Different track conditions changed the usual picture during the first two practice sessions for the Bahrain Grand Prix.
With this year’s race set to take place in the cooler conditions of the early evening, the significant drop in track temperatures between the first and second practice sessions brought with it a huge improvement in lap times.
Last year drivers found just three tenths of a second between the first two sessions. Today Lewis Hamilton, who headed both sessions, was over three seconds quicker in the evening.
Only his team mate Nico Rosberg could get anywhere near Hamilton’s pace as the chequered flag fell on the day’s action. Everyone else was more than a second behind.
But less than nine tenths of a second covered the next dozen cars on ultimate pace – an encouraging sign that the competition is close behind the flying W05s.
Although this year’s tyres are a more durable construction than those used last season, Pirelli have brought a softer mix this year (soft/medium) than last (medium/hard). “The medium and soft tyres are a good choice for this track,” said Adrian Sutil.
“In general, the grip was good. Because of the lower temperatures, the tyres are not over-heating, but the track is a challenge for the rear tyres. However, it is good that we have cooler temperatures, which should also be a benefit for the race.”
Jenson Button found it “difficult to get temperature into the tyres” in the cooler conditions of second practice, “but on the other hand you didn’t have as much degradation, so there was a trade-off there”.
The long run pace indicated that, as in Sepang, Mercedes may be putting more strain on their tyres than their rivals. But the likelihood is their performance advantage is so great they will be able to afford to take it easy on race day.
Longest stint comparison – second practice
This chart shows all the drivers’ lap times (in seconds) during their longest unbroken stint:
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | |
| Sebastian Vettel | 101.937 | 101.699 | 101.529 | 101.647 | 101.595 | 101.78 | 101.839 | 102.487 | 102.275 | |||||||||
| Daniel Ricciardo | 101.581 | 100.915 | 100.816 | 100.739 | 100.603 | 100.582 | 101.033 | 101.146 | 101.01 | 101.303 | 101.009 | 101.613 | 101.669 | 102.022 | 101.871 | 101.99 | 102.158 | |
| Lewis Hamilton | 103.281 | 100.151 | 102.655 | 100.655 | 100.891 | 100.038 | 99.869 | 100.016 | 100.102 | 100.035 | 107.305 | 99.883 | 100.01 | 106.569 | 100.699 | |||
| Nico Rosberg | 98.882 | 98.791 | 99.111 | 100.61 | 103.972 | 99.713 | 103.458 | 100.875 | 99.857 | 100.135 | 100.772 | 100.693 | 100.979 | 101.022 | ||||
| Fernando Alonso | 100.494 | 100.559 | 100.311 | 101.04 | 101.456 | 101.779 | 101.487 | 101.755 | 102.618 | 101.652 | 101.96 | 101.79 | 102.07 | |||||
| Kimi Raikkonen | 101.454 | 101.557 | 101.397 | 101.862 | 101.84 | 101.623 | 101.584 | 102.02 | 102.506 | 103.2 | 102.692 | |||||||
| Romain Grosjean | 101.183 | 101.906 | 101.634 | 101.928 | 102.388 | 102.116 | 102.332 | |||||||||||
| Pastor Maldonado | 102.629 | 102.396 | 102.234 | 101.657 | 101.947 | 102.544 | 103.013 | 103.606 | 102.343 | 102.02 | 102.094 | 102.666 | ||||||
| Jenson Button | 101.908 | 100.894 | 101.813 | 102.172 | 101.801 | 101.865 | 101.925 | 102.085 | 101.998 | 101.826 | 102.299 | 102.476 | ||||||
| Kevin Magnussen | 100.507 | 100.843 | 101.285 | 102.856 | 101.8 | 102.006 | 101.985 | 102 | 101.982 | 102.029 | 102.814 | 102.538 | ||||||
| Nico Hulkenberg | 99.53 | 99.4 | 100.229 | 100.401 | 100.666 | 100.411 | 100.54 | |||||||||||
| Sergio Perez | 100.033 | 100.039 | 99.848 | 100.042 | 100.51 | 101.367 | 100.938 | 100.989 | 101.404 | 101.321 | 101.636 | 101.737 | 101.784 | 110.8 | 102.196 | |||
| Adrian Sutil | 99.438 | 114.377 | 99.785 | |||||||||||||||
| Esteban Gutierrez | 100.977 | 101.274 | 101.715 | 102.16 | 102.3 | 103.08 | 102.956 | 103.387 | 102.975 | 103.743 | 103.841 | |||||||
| Jean-Eric Vergne | 100.79 | 100.484 | 101.088 | 101.257 | 101.583 | 101.679 | 102.087 | 102.105 | 102.641 | 102.399 | 102.145 | 102.166 | 102.921 | 102.068 | 102.385 | 102.386 | 104.033 | 102.338 |
| Daniil Kvyat | 101.663 | 101.683 | 102.03 | 102.107 | 102.219 | 103.598 | 102.305 | 103.255 | 104.302 | 103.223 | 103.851 | |||||||
| Felipe Massa | 95.442 | 99.713 | 98.847 | 98.739 | 101.117 | 100.044 | 98.862 | 100.604 | ||||||||||
| Valtteri Bottas | 97.512 | 106.478 | 97.689 | |||||||||||||||
| Jules Bianchi | 101.649 | 101.951 | 102.648 | |||||||||||||||
| Max Chilton | 100.908 | 111.281 | 100.438 | |||||||||||||||
| Marcus Ericsson | 104.595 | 102.002 | 102.721 | 102.578 | 102.902 | 103.619 | 103.813 | 104.122 | ||||||||||
| Kamui Kobayashi | 104.005 | 103.755 | 103.897 | 104.105 | 104.249 | 105.126 | 104.338 | 104.993 |
Sector times and ultimate lap times – second practice
| Pos | No. | Driver | Car | S1 | S2 | S3 | Ultimate | Gap | Deficit to best |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 29.831 (1) | 40.933 (1) | 23.561 (1) | 1’34.325 | 0.000 | |
| 2 | 6 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 29.876 (2) | 41.138 (2) | 23.676 (2) | 1’34.690 | 0.365 | 0.000 |
| 3 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 30.214 (3) | 41.296 (5) | 23.850 (5) | 1’35.360 | 1.035 | 0.000 |
| 4 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull-Renault | 30.426 (10) | 41.145 (4) | 23.862 (7) | 1’35.433 | 1.108 | 0.000 |
| 5 | 19 | Felipe Massa | Williams-Mercedes | 30.341 (7) | 41.371 (6) | 23.730 (4) | 1’35.442 | 1.117 | 0.000 |
| 6 | 22 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 30.230 (5) | 41.408 (8) | 23.890 (8) | 1’35.528 | 1.203 | 0.000 |
| 7 | 1 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull-Renault | 30.383 (9) | 41.141 (3) | 24.082 (13) | 1’35.606 | 1.281 | 0.000 |
| 8 | 26 | Daniil Kvyat | Toro Rosso-Renault | 30.223 (4) | 41.416 (9) | 24.001 (12) | 1’35.640 | 1.315 | 0.000 |
| 9 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | McLaren-Mercedes | 30.478 (11) | 41.492 (10) | 23.692 (3) | 1’35.662 | 1.337 | 0.000 |
| 10 | 11 | Sergio Perez | Force India-Mercedes | 30.351 (8) | 41.540 (12) | 23.911 (9) | 1’35.802 | 1.477 | 0.000 |
| 11 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams-Mercedes | 30.511 (12) | 41.494 (11) | 23.859 (6) | 1’35.864 | 1.539 | 0.056 |
| 12 | 25 | Jean-Eric Vergne | Toro Rosso-Renault | 30.562 (13) | 41.382 (7) | 23.937 (10) | 1’35.881 | 1.556 | 0.091 |
| 13 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India-Mercedes | 30.263 (6) | 41.642 (14) | 24.093 (14) | 1’35.998 | 1.673 | 0.000 |
| 14 | 7 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 30.611 (14) | 41.611 (13) | 23.993 (11) | 1’36.215 | 1.890 | 0.151 |
| 15 | 21 | Esteban Gutierrez | Sauber-Ferrari | 30.764 (16) | 41.790 (15) | 24.339 (17) | 1’36.893 | 2.568 | 0.082 |
| 16 | 99 | Adrian Sutil | Sauber-Ferrari | 30.736 (15) | 41.986 (16) | 24.240 (15) | 1’36.962 | 2.637 | 0.000 |
| 17 | 13 | Pastor Maldonado | Lotus-Renault | 30.985 (19) | 42.024 (17) | 24.250 (16) | 1’37.259 | 2.934 | 0.000 |
| 18 | 8 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus-Renault | 30.948 (17) | 42.285 (18) | 24.366 (18) | 1’37.599 | 3.274 | 0.000 |
| 19 | 17 | Jules Bianchi | Marussia-Ferrari | 31.058 (21) | 42.338 (19) | 24.404 (19) | 1’37.800 | 3.475 | 0.000 |
| 20 | 4 | Max Chilton | Marussia-Ferrari | 31.035 (20) | 42.606 (20) | 24.606 (22) | 1’38.247 | 3.922 | 0.000 |
| 21 | 10 | Kamui Kobayashi | Caterham-Renault | 30.973 (18) | 42.820 (21) | 24.464 (20) | 1’38.257 | 3.932 | 0.000 |
| 22 | 9 | Marcus Ericsson | Caterham-Renault | 31.062 (22) | 43.118 (22) | 24.517 (21) | 1’38.697 | 4.372 | 0.439 |
Complete practice times
| Pos | Driver | Car | FP1 | FP2 | Total laps | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’37.502 | 1’34.325 | 42 | ||
| 2 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1’37.733 | 1’34.690 | 44 | ||
| 3 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1’37.953 | 1’35.360 | 45 | ||
| 4 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull-Renault | 1’40.406 | 1’35.433 | 47 | ||
| 5 | Felipe Massa | Williams-Mercedes | 1’39.533 | 1’35.442 | 24 | ||
| 6 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 1’38.636 | 1’35.528 | 37 | ||
| 7 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull-Renault | 1’39.389 | 1’35.606 | 46 | ||
| 8 | Daniil Kvyat | Toro Rosso-Renault | 1’39.056 | 1’35.640 | 55 | ||
| 9 | Kevin Magnussen | McLaren-Mercedes | 1’38.949 | 1’35.662 | 37 | ||
| 10 | Sergio Perez | Force India-Mercedes | 1’39.102 | 1’35.802 | 61 | ||
| 11 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams-Mercedes | 1’35.920 | 9 | |||
| 12 | Jean-Eric Vergne | Toro Rosso-Renault | 1’39.862 | 1’35.972 | 59 | ||
| 13 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1’38.783 | 1’36.366 | 45 | ||
| 14 | Adrian Sutil | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’40.652 | 1’36.962 | 33 | ||
| 15 | Esteban Gutierrez | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’36.975 | 35 | |||
| 16 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India-Mercedes | 1’38.122 | 1’36.998 | 28 | ||
| 17 | Pastor Maldonado | Lotus-Renault | 1’40.793 | 1’37.259 | 56 | ||
| 18 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus-Renault | 1’41.036 | 1’37.599 | 47 | ||
| 19 | Jules Bianchi | Marussia-Ferrari | 1’40.889 | 1’37.800 | 35 | ||
| 20 | Max Chilton | Marussia-Ferrari | 1’41.794 | 1’38.247 | 30 | ||
| 21 | Kamui Kobayashi | Caterham-Renault | 1’38.257 | 33 | |||
| 22 | Marcus Ericsson | Caterham-Renault | 1’42.711 | 1’39.136 | 51 | ||
| 23 | Felipe Nasr | Williams-Mercedes | 1’40.076 | 14 | |||
| 24 | Giedo van der Garde | Caterham-Renault | 1’40.913 | 20 | |||
| 25 | Robin Frijns | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’42.417 | 35 |
Speed trap – second practice
| # | Driver | Car | Engine | Max speed (kph) | Gap | |
| 1 | 11 | Sergio Perez | Force India | Mercedes | 327 | |
| 2 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India | Mercedes | 326.8 | 0.2 |
| 3 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | Mercedes | 326.1 | 0.9 |
| 4 | 26 | Daniil Kvyat | Toro Rosso | Renault | 324.2 | 2.8 |
| 5 | 6 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | Mercedes | 324.1 | 2.9 |
| 6 | 25 | Jean-Eric Vergne | Toro Rosso | Renault | 323.2 | 3.8 |
| 7 | 22 | Jenson Button | McLaren | Mercedes | 322.8 | 4.2 |
| 8 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams | Mercedes | 322.3 | 4.7 |
| 9 | 19 | Felipe Massa | Williams | Mercedes | 321.9 | 5.1 |
| 10 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | McLaren | Mercedes | 321.4 | 5.6 |
| 11 | 10 | Kamui Kobayashi | Caterham | Renault | 320 | 7 |
| 12 | 9 | Marcus Ericsson | Caterham | Renault | 319.3 | 7.7 |
| 13 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | Ferrari | 319.1 | 7.9 |
| 14 | 7 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | Ferrari | 318.1 | 8.9 |
| 15 | 13 | Pastor Maldonado | Lotus | Renault | 317.5 | 9.5 |
| 16 | 1 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull | Renault | 316.6 | 10.4 |
| 17 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull | Renault | 315.2 | 11.8 |
| 18 | 4 | Max Chilton | Marussia | Ferrari | 314.7 | 12.3 |
| 19 | 99 | Adrian Sutil | Sauber | Ferrari | 314.1 | 12.9 |
| 20 | 21 | Esteban Gutierrez | Sauber | Ferrari | 310.9 | 16.1 |
| 21 | 17 | Jules Bianchi | Marussia | Ferrari | 310.5 | 16.5 |
| 22 | 8 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus | Renault | 308.8 | 18.2 |
2014 Bahrain Grand Prix
- Hamilton wins Driver of the Weekend again
- Thrilling Bahrain GP gets best rating since 2012 finale
- 2014 Bahrain Grand Prix team radio transcript
- Top ten pictures from the 2014 Bahrain Grand Prix
- 2014 Bahrain Grand Prix weekend in Tweets
madgerz (@madgerz)
4th April 2014, 22:04
FI looks better than most in the longer stints.
good for them and if they can translate the same to the race, it could be another strong race for them
HK (@me4me)
4th April 2014, 22:15
Kvyat has impressed me so far this weekend. He is quick.
As for the teams, on sunday we’ll probably have an amazing race for 3rd, but 1st and 2nd are already decided in my oppinion. A bit of a shame really.
Jake (@jleigh)
4th April 2014, 22:22
@me4me you don’t think we could have a race between the Mercs for the win?
Mayank (@mjf1fan)
4th April 2014, 22:46
@jleigh
I doubt Rosberg could challenge Lewis again this weekend. Despite having few lock ups on his flap, Lewis was still 3 tenths up on Rosberg. Lewis is definitely at full ease in the car so Rosberg would have to be his very best to beat him.
HK (@me4me)
5th April 2014, 12:10
@jleigh, I didn’t mean to say that Ham will be 1st and Ros 2nd. Just that Mercedes as a team are very likely to take those spots on the podium. Personally i feel it can do either way between Ham and Ros, depanding on track and conditions.
nidzovski
4th April 2014, 22:21
Van Der Garde in Sauber not Caterham mate :). Kvyat is showing great pace once again. I’m amazed by him as I watched him last year as well. He is a fresh blood in F1 and aleady showing way to JEV. If we take aside Mercs than we should have a great race once again. #f1diehardfan #hardtimesneedssuport
fractal (@fractal)
5th April 2014, 0:20
@keith fyi typo
Lars (@lars)
4th April 2014, 22:28
The early part of the 2014 season just shows what an outstanding driver Alonso is. I support Magnussen, but can not stop being impressed by Alonso. Hamilton is also outstanding, but he is also in the by far Best car. Alonso is not and he is still good. Really good.
Slava (@)
5th April 2014, 10:39
Well, I am even more impressed by The Hulk. He is really good. I have a strong feeling that in several years he will be the one thing that force me to watch F1.
gwenouille (@gwenouille)
4th April 2014, 22:36
Magnussen did a great great job in his 3rd sector !
Lars (@lars)
4th April 2014, 22:46
Yes. I think he even held back a little in todays Training in the sense that he made few attempts to go fast. It is the first grandprix where he knows the track and I think he will qualify in top 6.
trotter
4th April 2014, 22:38
Supporting Ferrari is getting really tiresome. Supporting Alonso actually, but he won’t be getting anywhere if the Ferrari car isn’t as fast as him.
F1Sidewinda (@f1sidewinda)
5th April 2014, 10:04
I’ve been thinking that about supporting Lewis, till this year.
Lars (@lars)
4th April 2014, 22:40
I really hope McLaren get some more downforce in the fast corners. If they succeed on this they can challenge Mercedes. Anyway the race for 3rd is exiting and we must count in Vettel, Alonso, Ricciardo, Magnussen, Button, Hulkenberg, Massa, Bottas and even Kvyat as an outsider. That is a lot of serious candidates for the podium.
Albert
4th April 2014, 22:46
I think you’re reading waaay too much into practice times.
It’s been a seriously long time since any race had so many canditates for 3th place, and I seriously doubt this one will change that.
Lars (@lars)
4th April 2014, 22:51
Fair enough, but I am also trying to take into consideration Australia and Malaysia. Obviously after qualifying the list will shorten if some of there names get a poor start position.
Mayank (@mjf1fan)
4th April 2014, 22:43
All those people who are moaning about how dominating Mercedes are due to their PU should see this long run chart. If we ignore Mercedes for a moment and look at other teams, they all are quite close to each other. Infact RBR has the best long run pace which is closely matched by FI (although I doubt they were having a bit less fuel on board then others). So if it was just about Mercedes PU, then all other mercedes powered teams should have filled the top 8 spots.
Mercedes definitely is being benefited by having a very good PU but along with that they have a very good chasis.
Lars (@lars)
4th April 2014, 22:53
Agree, it is not just the powerunit that make them strong.
Breno (@austus)
5th April 2014, 2:27
Sure, but I’d prefer we had a period like 06-08 with no dominant team.
Mayank (@mjf1fan)
5th April 2014, 4:26
When the winter testing started this season, I also hoped for 2-3 teams being fairly equal. I wished for a RBR vs FERRARI vs MERC battle but as testing progressed I saw it clearly that Mercs are way ahead of these teams.
Every team were given around 2.5 years to build and develop these cars and if Mercs are so far ahead of everyone then they rightfully deserve this success.
Mr_Peabody
4th April 2014, 22:46
Great to see that Caterham have a car that is more slippery than the standard high drag low downforce model of the past years. Now they need to add power to increase downforce. And get the power transition problem sorted.
Brian K
4th April 2014, 22:55
Nothing will silence all the negativity surrounding F1 other than a really competitive and entertaining race. There’s no reason we can’t see a great battle for the lead between ROS and HAM and then another for the 3rd podium spot. Or it may be a snooze fest, who knows, but I have hope!
Chris (@tophercheese21)
5th April 2014, 1:56
Those speed trap numbers are quite big… Lol.
Can’t wait to see how big they get at Monza.
David Not Coulthard (@davidnotcoulthard)
5th April 2014, 7:43
Speaking of Monza, it amazes me when I think about how Vettel is the 2nd most recent driver to win there with a Ferrari Engine (and with a team based in Italy as well)….
Neel Jani (@neelv27)
5th April 2014, 9:41
Behind Mercedes, it seems like the the Red Bull is the best of the rest however, Force India is truly a force to be reckoned with as Hulk and Checo have put in fairly quick and consistent times. I think with Williams, we head into the unknown as they largely missed the crucial FP2
HiPn0tIc (@hipn0tic)
5th April 2014, 11:34
Mercedes and then the rest untill when? I think the gap will still remain, and i reckon, after the Monaco GP, if RBR will not be at the same level they just as might “let” this season go and start working in the 2015 year….