FP2: Alonso steals spotlights from Red Bull duo

F1 Grand Prix, GP Bahrain, Bahrain International Circuit

As the Aston Martin threat seems to become more and more reality, Fernando Alonso ended up faster in second practice at Bahrain. World Champion Max Verstappen was a close second fastest with his Red Bull teammate Perez third.

Second practice at Bahrain is always an important session as it provides cooler conditions compared to first practice and is importantly scheduled at similar times as qualifying and the race. Alonso made perfect use of it and further warned his rivals even though his 1:30.907 is still 6 tenths away from the best time that Perez recorded in pre-season testing one week earlier.

Alonso did two qualifying runs on the soft tyre and headed the session while Verstappen complained about the bumps at Sakhir International Circuit, additionally saying that his RB19 was jumping more than it was in testing.

Behind the top three was Charles Leclerc who was only narrowly faster than Formula One returnee Nico Hulkenberg in his Haas. Lance Stroll ended up 6th as he discovered the AMR23 on his first day in the car. A cycling incident had ruled him out of pre-season testing but a similator test with increased steering forces was satisfactory for the team to let him compete leaving reserve driver Felipe Drugovich sidelined.

The Candian however had to be helped out of the car after the session, raising concerns whether he is ready to compete a full Grand Prix.

While Pierre Gasly showed the first signs of some pace in the Alpine A523 in 7th, Lewis Hamilton was the fastest Mercedes in 8th. As Norris and Zhou Guanyu completed the top ten only Alpha Tauri and Williams were not represented. These two teams filled the final 4 spots of today's ranking, in line with the predicted pecking order from testing.