• 2024 F1 Bahrain Grand Prix - Free Practice Results

Mercedes have conceded that “there is plenty of scope” for rivals to recover against them during Friday qualifying at the F1 Bahrain Grand Prix.

Eyebrows were raised as 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Lewis Hamilton went fastest in the second practice seꦅssion on Thursday, ahead of teamma⭕te George Russell.

It was an immediate injection of belief and hope for a team who truly needed it🅠, after two years 🐼of underperformance.

But Mercedes admit that their rivals have the abiliꦐty to change the pecking order in qualify꧃ing on Friday.

Trackside Engineering Director Andrew Shovl💯in reacted to their stunning Thursday performance: ♓;"Following the test we were most concerned about our single lap pace.

“We had both drivers in the simulator before returning here. ✤From the running [Thurs🎶day], it looks like we have improved.

“We're certainly not getting carried away, as the𒆙re is plenty of scope within power unit modes and fuel loads for several cars to find a chunk of time before [Friday].

“It'🔥s encouraging꧂ though that the picture we had last week seems to have improved.

"The long run data also looks close. Max Verstappen is still comfortabl🌞y out front, as we s🐻aw last week, but behind him it's going to be a tight battle for the remaining podium spots.

“We know we’ve got plenty to fine tune on the balance. It's still e﷽arly days with the W15, and we're learning how to get lap-time out of it with each run, but it's already feeling very different to the last two years that we have been here."

Hamilton said: "It was very wind🔥y in FP1, and the track wasಌ very different to during the test.

“We didn’t know exactly wher🌠e we would stack up against everyone else, but we had a positive FP2 session.

“The car was feeling good, but we can’t get ahead of ourselves. We know there is more to extract, and our long run pace isn’t in the fight with t�ꦅ�he Red Bulls.

"Overall though, I’m feeling much happier with the car than last year. We’ve made some good improv꧅ements and it feels much more 🗹like a race car.

“It’s a really good platfo🐽rm for us to build from. We just need to keep our🍒 heads down and keep chasing."

Russell added: "We𝓰’re not going to get ca𓆉rried away after one day of practice.

“Our qualifying pace did look strong. We made some changes from the tꦍest and the improvement did exceed our expectations.

“But ultimately our lonꦅg run pace is where it counts. Verstappen looked comfortably quickest, and it was very tight with the Ferraris, the McLa𝕴rens, and the Aston Martins. So we’ve likely got a real fight on our hands there.”

Red Bull’s Verstappen, who was P6 in FP2, reacted: “The practice ses🅘sions were not per🔥fect but we weren’t too far off.

“The long runs were quite decent, ಞand I think we can alway🌳s do a little better on those laps.

“Ther🌼e were a few small balance issues that we will work on 🍎but I am quite happy with everything with the car overall.

“[Thursday] was just about trying to find that sweet spot and getting the perfect balance inꦏ the car.

“Performing﷽ well in qualifying is important, so we will make💦 sure the car is in good shape ahead of tomorrow.

“I’m not too wo⭕rried about the gap to P1 and we aren’t looking too much at the others and are just focusing on ourselves at the moment.

“It’s going to be very close in qualifying but we will try and work a 🍌♔bit more and fight for pole [on Friday].”