2021 Bahrain Grand Prix - Sakhir, March 26 - 28

[NathanOlder]

Medium runs done, Merc nearly 6 tenths up on Max . Hmm....

[El Scorchio]

Busy session.

This is what F1 wanted. Honestly not a bad idea...

A red flag is goign to be very costly, isn't it. But there's no doubt this is fairly action packed for a practice session.

[dans79]

Medium runs done, Merc nearly 6 tenths up on Max . Hmm....

I missed the beginning of the session, did Max make a mistake?

[NathanOlder]

Medium runs done, Merc nearly 6 tenths up on Max . Hmm....

I missed the beginning of the session, did Max make a mistake?

I didnt notice any, he was faster than Perez in all 3 sectors so I dont think he made any mistakes.

I'm already thinking it could be RedBull advantage on light fuel, Merc advantage on heavy. Would make for a great season if thats the case. Bring it on!

Edit. Merc not improving much on the softs

[Just_a_fan]

Medium runs done, Merc nearly 6 tenths up on Max . Hmm....

Soft runs and Max is ahead by 2.5 tenths.

Looks like the cars have strengths and weaknesses. If that's the case, that will give the interesting season that people are looking for.

[El Scorchio]

Really not a lot of improvement on softs. Especially in sector 3.

There's a lot of traffic for everyone, which is a bit irritating. Not sure it's that easy to get a clear lap in.

[dans79]

Edit. Merc not improving much on the softs

The rears can't take the beating.

I also think Merc has some pace in hand, as I don't think they will be behind McLaren tomorrow.

[Hoffman900]

Edit. Merc not improving much on the softs

The rears can't take the beating.

I also think Merc has some pace in hand, as I don't think they will be behind McLaren tomorrow.

This. The Merc looks settled which is important. They want to be in the hunt today, but winning FP2 won’t be there goal.

[Just_a_fan]

Worth remembering that the engines won't all be in qualifying/race settings nor will all teams have the same amount of fuel in. Until qualifying and then the race we don't know the true pace.

[dans79]

Edit. Merc not improving much on the softs

The rears can't take the beating.

I also think Merc has some pace in hand, as I don't think they will be behind McLaren tomorrow.

This. The Merc looks settled which is important. They want to be in the hunt today, but winning FP2 won’t be there goal.

The rear looked less happy towards the end of the lap, but it was for sure a lot more stable than it was during testing.

Imo, they are improving and learning with each lap.

[NathanOlder]

Edit. Merc not improving much on the softs

The rears can't take the beating.

I also think Merc has some pace in hand, as I don't think they will be behind McLaren tomorrow.

Lewis was slower in S1 on his softs so not sure whats happening there. WHy can't it be qualifying already!

[Hoffman900]

Worth remembering that the engines won't all be in qualifying/race settings nor will all teams have the same amount of fuel in. Until qualifying and then the race we don't know the true pace.

With the tire allotments and the mileage they need out of the PU’s and gearboxes, it’s very rare you see the full pace unless they need to.

All this stuff saves costs, but it just means everyone paces their equipment unless they absolutely have to, which hurts the show.

[Hoffman900]

The rears can't take the beating.

I also think Merc has some pace in hand, as I don't think they will be behind McLaren tomorrow.

This. The Merc looks settled which is important. They want to be in the hunt today, but winning FP2 won’t be there goal.

The rear looked less happy towards the end of the lap, but it was for sure a lot more stable than it was during testing.

Imo, they are improving and learning with each lap.

This track is hard on rears.

I can think of multiple occasions outside of F1 where we were faster on what would be a medium tire, as the soft qualifying tire wouldn’t survive an entire lap.

Softer isn’t always faster for this reason alone. A long track with big straights, where the tire can cool down, they work a lot better.

[El Scorchio]

Whatever they are doing to calculate ultimate qualifying pace puts Hamilton predicted as first.

[Mattyw]

Great seeing Mclaren up there

Got a feeling its going to be a good season look how close it is 1>15 - 0.9 sec!