Hamilton leads and Mercedes leads in F1 free seconds in Bahrain: Verstappen finished sixth

#Hamilton #leads #Mercedes #leads #free #seconds #Bahrain #Verstappen #finished #sixth

The British Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) led this Thursday in the second free practice of the Bahrain Grand Prix of Formula 1 (F1), where the Mercedes warned of their level and the Spanish Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) joined the party finishing third, less than three tenths behind the Englishman.

Hamilton left the time at 1 minute, 30 seconds and 374 thousandths, 206 thousandths less than his teammate and compatriot George Russellwhile Spanish Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) came fourth, 395 thousandths behind the Englishman, and the Mexican ‘Checo’ Pérez finished tenth.

However, it seems that the Red Bulls still have the key to qualifying this Saturday, despite the fact that nor Péreztenth, nor the Dutch Max VerstappenSixth, they wanted to display themselves on the Sakhir route.

After playing hide and seek during the first free practice session, the big favorites took to the track as soon as the traffic light stopped being red and although they continued to keep several tricks up their sleeve, They began to show what the real pace of their cars is. in this Bahrain Grand Prix, the first of the season.

Verstappen, the triple world champion and who seemed to be the great rival to beat of the day, had not yet appeared, but the Dutchman stayed behind Hamilton and also Alonso, and did not seem to leave a very good feeling on the track, although Of course, this Friday will be another story.

Neither Leclerc was able to improve Hamilton’s time and, in fact, He had a good scare in one of the last corners of the circuitbecause as he himself admitted he had a mistake that almost caused him to go in front of the wall, although he knew how to direct the car to return it to the pits.

Only Russell was able to get close to the times of his compatriot, who improved his splits again, to keep up with the pace and catch up. just over two tenths of the seven-time world champion.

In the absence of one more free practice session, the key is to know the amount of gasoline he had in his ‘Mad Max’ car, which is, without a doubt, the main candidate to take the victory this Saturday, despite having preferred not ‘show’ in this second round. Friday will be the qualifying day and Saturday will be the race.