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Formula 1 Bahrain GP
F1 results: Fernando Alonso fastest in Bahrain GP practice
Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso was fastest in Bahrain Grand Prix practice in Sakhir, ahead of the opening round of the 2023 Formula 1 World Championship.
Charles Bradley
Edited: Mar 5, 2023, 5:38 PM
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Red Bull’s Sergio Perez was quickest in FP1, held in full daylight conditions, before Aston newcomer Alonso topped FP2 after darkness had descended.
Bahrain Grand Prix FP1 results: Perez fastest from Alonso
Cla Driver Chassis Laps Time Gap Interval km/h 1 Sergio Perez
Red Bull 21 1'32.758 210.043 2 Fernando Alonso
Aston Martin 22 1'33.196 0.438 0.438 209.056 3 Max Verstappen
Red Bull 21 1'33.375 0.617 0.179 208.655 4 Lando Norris
McLaren 21 1'34.165 1.407 0.790 206.904 5 Charles Leclerc
Ferrari 17 1'34.257 1.499 0.092 206.702 6 Lance Stroll
Aston Martin 17 1'34.298 1.540 0.041 206.613 7 Kevin Magnussen
Haas 20 1'34.402 1.644 0.104 206.385 8 Zhou Guanyu
Alfa Romeo 18 1'34.575 1.817 0.173 206.007 9 Valtteri Bottas
Alfa Romeo 20 1'34.689 1.931 0.114 205.759 10 Lewis Hamilton
Mercedes 13 1'34.917 2.159 0.228 205.265 11 George Russell
Mercedes 20 1'34.966 2.208 0.049 205.159 12 Oscar Piastri
McLaren 24 1'34.997 2.239 0.031 205.092 13 Yuki Tsunoda
AlphaTauri 20 1'35.015 2.257 0.018 205.053 14 Nico Hulkenberg
Haas 22 1'35.043 2.285 0.028 204.993 15 Esteban Ocon
Alpine 20 1'35.105 2.347 0.062 204.859 16 Nyck de Vries
AlphaTauri 25 1'35.402 2.644 0.297 204.222 17 Pierre Gasly
Alpine 22 1'35.455 2.697 0.053 204.108 18 Logan Sargeant
Williams 24 1'35.749 2.991 0.294 203.482 19 Alex Albon
Williams 15 1'36.018 3.260 0.269 202.911 20 Carlos Sainz
Ferrari 21 1'36.072 3.314 0.054 202.797 View full results
What happened in Bahrain GP Free Practice 1?
Alonso set the early bar at 1m35.048s on medium tyres for Aston Martin, before Perez took over at the top of the times with 1m34.343s on mediums, some seven tenths faster. Alonso also improved his time but was over half a second off that pace.
At the halfway point, Perez and Max Verstappen switched to soft tyres on their Red Bulls. Perez took P1 with 1m32.758s, 0.617s faster than his team-mate’s 1m33.375s, and over two seconds clear of the opposition.
Alonso then split the Red Bulls with 1m33.196s on his soft-tyre run, with Lando Norris jumping up to fourth for McLaren.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was an impressive fifth on mediums, 1.5s off the pace with 1m34.257s. Ferrari earlier trialled a single-pillar rear wing design, that proved to be very wobbly on track.
His team-mate Carlos Sainz suffered a huge spin at Turn 9 with 20 minutes remaining, as the rear of his car bottomed-out too hard over a bump. Sainz remained planted at the bottom of the times, after not running on soft tyres.
Lance Stroll was back in his Aston Martin after suffering a wrist injury in a cycling accident, which forced him to miss all of testing, but he lost the first half of the session with an ignition problem. He recovered to end the session in sixth.
Mercedes didn’t run the softs and placed 10th and 11th with Lewis Hamilton and George Russell respectively, both over 2s off the pace.
Bahrain Grand Prix FP2 results: Alonso fastest from Verstappen
Pos Nº Driver Car / Engine Time Delay Laps 1 14 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin/Mercedes 1'30.907 25 2 1 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1'31.076 0.169 24 3 11 Sergio Pérez Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1'31.078 0.171 26 4 16 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1'31.367 0.460 26 5 27 Nico Hülkenberg Haas/Ferrari 1'31.376 0.469 25 6 18 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 1'31.450 0.543 28 7 10 Pierre Gasly Alpine/Renault 1'31.475 0.568 24 8 44 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1'31.543 0.636 27 9 4 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 1'31.570 0.663 27 10 24 Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 1'31.586 0.679 27 11 31 Esteban Ocon Alpine/Renault 1'31.608 0.701 25 12 77 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 1'31.793 0.886 28 13 63 George Russell Mercedes 1'31.882 0.975 25 14 55 Carlos Sainz Jr. Ferrari 1'31.956 1.049 28 15 81 Oscar Piastri McLaren/Mercedes 1'32.024 1.117 27 16 20 Kevin Magnussen Haas/Ferrari 1'32.110 1.203 18 17 23 Alexander Albon Williams/Mercedes 1'32.440 1.533 28 18 22 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri/Honda RBPT 1'32.525 1.618 27 19 21 Nyck de Vries AlphaTauri/Honda RBPT 1'32.605 1.698 28 20 2 Logan Sargeant Williams/Mercedes 1'32.749 1.842 29
What happened in Bahrain GP Free Practice 2?
With the sun having set, track temperature tumbled to give much more reflective track conditions for qualifying and the race.
After a poor showing in FP1, Alpine went straight out on softs with Esteban Ocon producing 1m32.415s before Sainz took P1 with 1m31.956s. Leclerc, despite complaining of a clutch issue, beat that by just over a tenth with 1m31.843s.
Just before the halfway point, Stroll went to the top with 1m31.450s. The fastest times then came thick and fast, with Nico Hulkenberg (Haas) producing 1m31.376s and Perez lapping in 1m31.078s, before Alonso achieved 1m30.907s – which proved to be the quickest lap of the day.
Verstappen could only manage 1m31.076s, 0.169s down on Alonso, to go P2. Perez slipped to third, ahead of Leclerc, Hulkenberg and Stroll. Top Mercedes was Hamilton again in eighth, just behind Alpine newboy Pierre Gasly.
Stroll almost caused a big shunt earlier by cruising in the middle of the track into Turn 1, as Oscar Piastri (McLaren) and Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri) arrived in a high-speed, side-by-side duel.
Read Also:
- Mercedes signs former senior Red Bull F1 figure as new special advisor
- FIA grants Hamilton medical exemption to wear nose studs
- McLaren will "need a lot more" than Baku F1 upgrade to fight for P4 - Norris
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