Lewis Hamilton
Lewis Hamilton

2025 F1 Bahrain Grand Prix - Friday Practice - As it happened

A recap of what happened in Friday practice at the Bahrain Grand Prix

17:11
That's a wrap

That concludes🍰 our live coverage from qualifying for the Bahrain Grand Prix.

You can keep 🃏across now for our post-practice reaction. We will be back tomorrow afternoon for FP3. 

17:07
Dominant from McLaren

The main conclusion from Friday in Bahrain is🅺 that McLaren are clearly the team to 𝄹beat heading into qualifying tomorrow.

Merc💫edes and Ferrari look closely matched in the battle for third on the grid. Red Bull look🌄 like they will be relying on more brilliance from Verstappen.

17:01
Top 10

Piastri, No꧙rris, Russell, Leclerc, Antonelli, Hadjar, Verstappen, Hamilton, Bearman and Sainz.

17:01
Chequered flag

FP2 is done and dusted. Piastri will top the session.&nbsﷺp;

16:54
Race pace

Hard to get a read of the race simulations with teams running on the softs. It's likely they will favour the mediums and hards on Sunda🦋y. 

16:49
Into the final 10 minutes

Piastri, Norris, Russell, Leclerc, Antonelli, Hadjar, Verstappen, Hamilton, Bearmanℱ and Sainz is theꦉ top 10. 

16:44
Alonso's issue from earlier

A closer lo🍷ok at the steering issue which impacted Alonso early on in FP2

Alonso
Alonso
16:43
Alonso improves

Alonso moves into 15th in the Aston M🐬artin, 1.3s down on Piastri's top time.

Don't expect any other improvements or changes to the leaderboard as t✨eams focus on heavy fu✨el running for the rest of the session.

16:39
Order with 20 minutes to go

Piastri, Norris, Russell, Leclerc, Antonelli, Hadj🔯ar, Verstappen, Hamilton, Bearman and Sainz. 

16:39
Improvement from Leclerc

Leclerc moves his Ferrari up to fifth. He's 0.5s off✅ 🐈Piastri's top time, however.

16:35
Slightly better lap from Hamilton

He moves up to seventh despite a major mistake in the fin🍃al corner♎. 

16:32
Current top 10

Piastri, Norris, Russell, Antonelli, Ha𒁃djar, Verstappen, Bearman, Sainz, Lecler🐼c and Albon.

16:28
Piastri

Piastri goes even quicker and sets a 1m30.505s, a🎀 tenth ahead of Norris.

16:26
Norris smashes the fastest time

A 1m30.659s for Norris which put𒊎s him 0.6s clear of the field.

16:26
Good lap from Verstappen

He lowers the benchma🥂rk again toꩲ a 1m31.330s to go 0.3s ahead of Albon.

16:24
Albon beats the Ferraris

A strong lapඣ from Albon to go ahead of the Ferraris - less than a tenth ahead of L💫eclerc.

16:23
Leclerc makes it a Ferrari 1-2

A 1m𓆉31.729s puts Leclerc top of the order, a tenth ahead of teammate Hamilton.

16:20
Hamilton improves on the softs

A 1m31.915sꦡ on the softs as Hamilton goes fastest again. 

16:18
The FP2 order after 20 minutes

Russell (S), Hamilton (M), Antonelli (S), Verstappen (S), Piast💎ri (H), Gasly (H), Leclerc (M), Hadjar (M), Norris (H) and Albon (M). 

16:15
Russell goes fastest

Russell takes to the top now with a 1🍒m31.945s to go 0.2s ahead of Hamilton.&nbs🐈p;

16:11
Alonso

Replays show Alonso's steering wheel detaching itself when driving into the⛄ final couple of corners. An unusua𝔍l issue. 

16:10
The order after 10 minutes

Hamiltܫon, Antonel👍li, Russell, Piastri, Gasly, Leclerc, Hadjar, Norris, Albon and Tsunoda. 

16:09
A problem of Alonso

Something wrong with his steering wheel as Alonso returns to the pit lane.&🍸nbsp;

16:08
Russell gets a time on the board

It's third-fastest for Russell in the Mer🔥cedes, a couple of tenths off Hamilton. The two Mercedes drivers have set their best time on the soft.s 

16:06
Verstappen radio

"The ride is ve🧜ry bad. The car is jumping a lot," Verstappen reports after his mistake.