Bahrain Grand Prix: Practice Recap

Event:  Free Practice 1 and Free Practice 2 (FP1 and FP2) 

Date:  Friday, April 6

Location:  Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir

Layout:  5.412-kilometer (3.363-mile), 15-turn track

FP1 Weather:  Sunny

FP1 Air Temps:  29.9-30.6 degrees Celsius (85.8-87.1 degrees Fahrenheit)

FP1 Track Temps:  37.9-43.6 degrees Celsius (100.2-110.5 degrees Fahrenheit)

FP2 Weather:  Clear

FP2 Air Temps:  26.9-27.6 degrees Celsius (80.4-81.7 degrees Fahrenheit)

FP2 Track Temps:  32.9-32.9 degrees Celsius (91.2-91.2 degrees Fahrenheit)

Drivers:  Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen

Grosjean:  6th quick (1:32.516), 23 laps completed

Magnussen:  9th quick (1:32.971), 19 laps completed

Fastest Driver:  Daniel Ricciardo of Red Bull (1:31.060)

Most Laps:  Sergey Sirotkin of Williams (29 laps)

Grosjean:  11th quick (1:31.591), 33 laps completed

Magnussen:  15th quick (1:31.969), 35 laps completed

Fastest Driver:  Kimi Räikkönen of Scuderia Ferrari (1:29.817)

Most Laps:  Pierre Gasly and Brendon Hartley of Toro Rosso (38 laps each)

The second round of the 2018 FIA Formula One World Championship began with practice Friday at Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir as teams prepared for the Bahrain Grand Prix on Sunday.

Two 90-minute sessions – FP1 and FP2 – on the 5.412-kilometer (3.363-mile), 15-turn track were on the docket, the first of which was run under a clear and sunny sky while the latter was the more representative session for what drivers and teams will experience in Sunday’s race, which begins shortly after sunset.

Both drivers began FP1 on the Pirelli P Zero Yellow soft tire before transitioning to the Red supersoft tire. Grosjean’s quick time of 1:32.516 came on his 12th lap shod on supersofts. He ran 23 laps and was the sixth-fastest driver, behind only the big-three teams of Red Bull, Mercedes and Scuderia Ferrari. Magnussen’s best time was a 1:32.971 on his 11th lap, also set on supersofts. He ran 19 laps and posted the ninth-quickest time.

Leading the way in FP1 was Red Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo, whose fast lap of 1:31.060 was .304 of a second better than the next quickest driver, Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas.

Speeds picked up in FP2, but so did traffic, which impeded Grosjean and Magnussen from compiling an ideal lap while on fresh rubber. Grosjean wrapped FP2 as the 11th-quickest driver with a time of 1:31.591, which was .925 of a second better than his best lap in FP1. His quick time came on the 11th of his 33 laps riding on a set of new supersofts. Magnussen shaved 1.002 seconds off his FP1 mark with a lap of 1:31.969 to earn the 15th-fastest time. His best lap came on his 13th tour, also while utilizing supersofts. He completed 35 laps.

Kimi Räikkönen led a Ferrari 1-2 effort at the top of FP2. Räikkönen’s quick time of 1:29.817 was .011 of a second better than his nearest pursuer, teammate Sebastian Vettel. The Bahrain track record of 1:28.769, set last year by Bottas in the final round of qualifying, remained intact.

Between the two sessions, Haas F1 Team ran a total of 110 laps – 56 by Grosjean and 54 by Magnussen.

“It was a decent day for us, but I think we can be better tomorrow. The afternoon pace was not as good as the morning. My fastest lap was compromised by traffic in the last corner, so I guess there’s a little bit in there. We didn’t do enough for the night, but that’s where practice is good. Now we’ve got a good delta. We can work in FP3 to get ready for qualifying.”

“We’ve had a bit of a tricky Friday, but the car didn’t feel bad. There’s lots to learn about the tires, though. It wasn’t easy with the change of temperature from morning to the afternoon. At the moment, we have a lot of stuff to go through just to understand the tires and how to get them up to temperature and by how much, which is a tricky thing here with the tarmac being very rough and the temperature varying as much as it does. I’m still hopeful that we can make up some time tomorrow.”

Drivers have one more practice session on Saturday (15:00-16:00 local time) before qualifying starts at 18:00. Qualifying consists of three rounds, with the 15 fastest drivers from Q1 moving on to Q2. Then, the 10 fastest drivers from Q2 advance to Q3 where they’ll battle for the pole.