2019 Bahrain Grand Prix - Sakhir, March 29 - 31

[BillS]

Ferrari's second laps on the same soft sets were not impressive at all.
Hamilton tried the same and set pretty much equal times.

Vettel's fastest lap also not so clear, time lost here and there.

I can't believe the gap is .6s, it should be really close tomorrow.

[pantherxxx]

It will be an interesting fight tomorrow for the pole. Vettel-Leclerc-Hamilton-Bottas should be very close.

[Mandrake]

What have they done to the McLaren Renault? It sounds like a blender running at 17k RPM.....

[dans79]

I missed the first half of fp2, is Ferrari on a different schedule from everyone else?

I can't see Ferrari being that far ahead of Mercedes, and no way in He** is Renault that close to Mercedes.

[GrandAxe]

The Sky commentary is just so poor, particularly Martin Brundle and all that split screen nonsense that distracts even when important things are going on on track..
Its all click bait rubbish, even in FP that is watched by only hardcore F1 fans.

[Mansell89]

A lot of people saying that the times are unrealistic because of how close Renault, Haas and McLaren are to Merc - actually this current order looks much more akin to what we saw in Barcelona.

Don’t be surprised to see some strong performances from the midfield this week if the engine gains have been as good as hoped for in the Renault camp.

[Bill_Kar]

Ferrari's second laps on the same soft sets were not impressive at all.
Hamilton tried the same and set pretty much equal times.

Can you clarify this a bit?

[Juzh]

The Sky commentary is just so poor, particularly Martin Brundle and all that split screen nonsense that distracts even when important things are going on on track..
Its all click bait rubbish, even in FP that is watched by only hardcore F1 fans.

Literally vomit inducing. Just mute them and watch on FX audio.

Vettel left some tenths on the table in the last corner on his second hot lap, so i'd say they do have some pace on this track. Hopefully merc isn't sandbagging too much.

[BillS]

Ferrari's second laps on the same soft sets were not impressive at all.
Hamilton tried the same and set pretty much equal times.

Can you clarify this a bit?

The two Ferraris tried one flying, one cool down and another flying lap.
Leclerc (whose splits were displayed) was .9s slower on his second flying lap. Vettel was also slower.

Hamilton tried the same tactic (earlier on the session) and managed to improve a bit on his second lap.

[Jambier]

What have they done to the McLaren Renault? It sounds like a blender running at 17k RPM.....

I've noticed that as well, very strange sound
I haven't heard the Renault work team, do they do the same?

RIC still very much struggling for now, strange

[Juzh]

Ferrari's second laps on the same soft sets were not impressive at all.
Hamilton tried the same and set pretty much equal times.

Can you clarify this a bit?

I think he means the yellow walled medium (old soft), on which they lost ~1s on their second lap in the same run. But they also had a detuned engine on the second run, so not all is down to tires.

[GrandAxe]

Ferrari's second laps on the same soft sets were not impressive at all.
Hamilton tried the same and set pretty much equal times.

Vettel's fastest lap also not so clear, time lost here and there.

I can't believe the gap is .6s, it should be really close tomorrow.

Could be why they did banzai first laps.
For a team that seems to be having tyres for breakfast, lunch and dinner, it might be best to start as high up as possible and then change to the hardest tyre early. If Ferrari is still lacking front downforce relative to the rest of the field, that just might work in their favour by heating the hardest tyre better.

[Zynerji]

GAS/KVY swap incoming for Barcelona.

Gasley isn't even close to Verstappen.

[Juzh]

What have they done to the McLaren Renault? It sounds like a blender running at 17k RPM.....

I've noticed that as well, very strange sound
I haven't heard the Renault work team, do they do the same?

It's just microphone positioning inside the car. The high pitched sound could be intentional, or the mic itself is getting overwhelmed at higher pitches, which would also not be first time it happened ever since they started using dual mics.

[dans79]

A lot of people saying that the times are unrealistic because of how close Renault, Haas and McLaren are to Merc - actually this current order looks much more akin to what we saw in Barcelona.

Disagree,

No way Mercedes, Redbull, Renault, Hass, and Mclaren, are all within 4 tenths of each other on one lap pace.