Bahrain GP: Raikkonen quickest in FP2 despite wheel drama

Raikkonen was third fastest in the early running, behind teammate Sebastian Vettel and Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas using the soft compound Pirellis.

He was the first driver to bolt on the supersoft Pirellis to complete a qualifying simulation, setting a best lap of 1m29.817s on his initial flier.

Raikkonen went on to do long-run work, but having done a lengthy stint on the supersofts he bolted on softs and was sent back out, only to stop on his out-lap with a loose front-right wheel with 14 minutes remaining.

Stewards will investigate the incident after the session, and do have the power to issue grid penalties for unsafe releases in practice sessions.

Raikkonen's supersoft time was never beaten, although Sebastian Vettel ended up just 0.011s behind on his qualifying simulation after setting a strong pace in the second and third sectors of the Sakhir circuit.

Bottas was third, 0.552s slower than Vettel, although Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton should have been ahead of him.

On his fastest lap, Hamilton was on target to go third but was held up by Haas driver Kevin Magnussen in the final right-hander.

He was a total of 0.655s off the pace, but was over three tenths off the best time set in the final sector on that lap.

Hamilton earlier had an off at the first corner after locking up on his first set of tyres, running onto the asphalt runoff before rejoining.

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen was fifth fastest, but complained about a lack of power and was disappointed with his qualifying simulation as he ended up 0.928s off the pace.

But that was enough to put him just ahead of teammate Daniel Ricciardo, who was a further six thousandths of a second back.

Best of the rest was Renault driver Nico Hulkenberg, who was 1.403s off the pace.

But a surprise challenger for that position was Toro Rosso-Honda driver Pierre Gasly, who put in a lap just 0.012s slower to beat McLaren pairing Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne to eighth place.

Romain Grosjean was 11th fastest for Haas ahead of the second Renault of Carlos Sainz and the Force Indias of Esteban Ocon and Sergio Perez.

Sainz, in the second Renault, was 12th fastest ahead of Force India pairing Esteban Ocon and Sergio Perez.

Charles Leclerc was 16th, 2.555s off the pace, while Sauber teammate Marcus Ericsson was 19th after surviving a spin into the gravel after losing the rear at the exit of Turn 2.

The Sauber duo was split by the two Williams drivers - Lance Stroll and Sergey Sirotkin - with Toro Rosso's Brendon Hartley last.