Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, Bahrain International Circuit, 2019

Vettel edges Leclerc as Ferrari stay ahead in Bahrain

2019 Bahrain Grand Prix second practice

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Ferrari filled the top two positions again in the second practice session for the Bahrain Grand Prix but this time it was Sebastian Vettel on top.

There was little to choose between the two SF90s, however. Vettel edged team mate Charles Leclerc by just three-hundredths of a second, though he seemed to have the potential to improve his time on his final run.

Vettel also tripped up during his long run in the second half of the session. He lost his car on the exit kerb at turn two and spun off, but was able to continue.

Mercedes were closer to the red cars than they had been in first practice, but Lewis Hamilton was still over six-tenths of a second behind in third place. Valtteri Bottas was another tenth of a second behind.

Renault surprised by being the third-quickest team courtesy of Nico Hulkenberg, whose best lap left him just a tenth shy of the second Mercedes. He was just five-hundredths of a second quicker than Max Verstappen, but the Red Bull driver’s modest improved when he switched from medium to soft tyres indicated he also had more lap time up his sleeve.

Pierre Gasly ended the session well down on his team mate. The pair were separated by seven tenths of a second and six places.

The gap was filled by the Haas pair, who looked much stronger in the second session, and both McLaren drivers. Lando Norris was less than two-hundredths of a second slower than Haas pace-setter Kevin Magnussen.

Gasly only narrowed avoided being out-paced by both Toro Rossos. He was three-tenths off Daniil Kvyat and only fractionally ahead of Alexander Albon.

Daniel Ricciardo was another driver who ended the session well behind his team mate. The two Renault drivers were separated by over a second. Meanwhile the Alfa Romeo pair were delayed by water leaks which confined each to no more than 10 laps.

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Pos.No.DriverCarBest lapGapLaps
15Sebastian VettelFerrari1’28.84632
216Charles LeclercFerrari1’28.8810.03532
344Lewis HamiltonMercedes1’29.4490.60333
477Valtteri BottasMercedes1’29.5570.71136
527Nico HulkenbergRenault1’29.6690.82332
633Max VerstappenRed Bull-Honda1’29.7250.87934
720Kevin MagnussenHaas-Ferrari1’30.0001.15433
84Lando NorrisMcLaren-Renault1’30.0171.17125
98Romain GrosjeanHaas-Ferrari1’30.0681.22234
1026Daniil KvyatToro Rosso-Honda1’30.0931.24736
1155Carlos Sainz JnrMcLaren-Renault1’30.1921.34633
1210Pierre GaslyRed Bull-Honda1’30.4291.58331
1323Alexander AlbonToro Rosso-Honda1’30.4581.61236
1411Sergio PerezRacing Point-Mercedes1’30.7161.87032
153Daniel RicciardoRenault1’30.8482.00230
167Kimi RaikkonenAlfa Romeo-Ferrari1’31.0882.2426
1718Lance StrollRacing Point-Mercedes1’31.1292.28331
1899Antonio GiovinazziAlfa Romeo-Ferrari1’31.1442.29810
1963George RussellWilliams-Mercedes1’31.9043.05832
2088Robert KubicaWilliams-Mercedes1’32.9324.08637

Second practice visual gaps

Sebastian Vettel – 1’28.846

+0.035 Charles Leclerc – 1’28.881

+0.603 Lewis Hamilton – 1’29.449

+0.711 Valtteri Bottas – 1’29.557

+0.823 Nico Hulkenberg – 1’29.669

+0.879 Max Verstappen – 1’29.725

+1.154 Kevin Magnussen – 1’30.000

+1.171 Lando Norris – 1’30.017

+1.222 Romain Grosjean – 1’30.068

+1.247 Daniil Kvyat – 1’30.093

+1.346 Carlos Sainz Jnr – 1’30.192

+1.583 Pierre Gasly – 1’30.429

+1.612 Alexander Albon – 1’30.458

+1.870 Sergio Perez – 1’30.716

+2.002 Daniel Ricciardo – 1’30.848

+2.242 Kimi Raikkonen – 1’31.088

+2.283 Lance Stroll – 1’31.129

+2.298 Antonio Giovinazzi – 1’31.144

+3.058 George Russell – 1’31.904

+4.086 Robert Kubica – 1’32.932

Drivers more then ten seconds off the pace omitted.

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2019 Bahrain Grand Prix

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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12 comments on “Vettel edges Leclerc as Ferrari stay ahead in Bahrain”

  1. Is Kubica’s “come back” a feel good story now? How cruel can destiny be.

    1. I never thought it would be a successful comeback. Let’s be honest, few chances to be a successful comeback: 8 years on the side, his age, his arm, different cars, lots of new young shots – some of them very fast, Williams as the team of choice etc. Plus, it’s statistics too, most comebacks are not successful.

      1. Panagiotis Papatheodorou (@panagiotism-papatheodorou)
        29th March 2019, 17:52

        Only Lauda, Prost and Kimi have made successful comebacks.

        1. Lauda and Prost both won titles on comebacks. while Kimi didnt win title on comeback but his earlier-Lotus days were spectacular to say the least.

    2. I wish it was a successful comeback, but it doesn’t look like that.

    3. Formula One changed a lot since 2010.
      pirelli’s tyres are very different from the bridgestones he used to drive on and even if it weren’t that different, 2010 is ages ago in sports time.
      Vettel and Hamilton were still fresh new guys then, now they are the stars on the final leg of their careers.

      To me it was always a matter of Robert coming back and proving that he could still do it. And he still can, just not as well anymore. If his arm was not an issue, i doubt Renault would’ve dropped him. They wanted to have him there, but gave up on him cuz he wasn’t up to it on their standards. Williams only gave him a seat cuz they didnt got anyone else with the right amount of money to get it.

      I hope he scores a point until the end of the season, even if it is a dead last 10th place. It doesn’t matter.

      1. There’s no way Williams would have given him a drive just for the money.

        They know hes fully capable from testing and multiple sim runs and his technical knowledge is right up there with the best.

        The cars not in any state to make a judgement about his own speed yet.

        1. well, they gave for Stroll, didn’t they?

          i hope i’m wrong and his arm is not an issue, but i wouldn’t bet on that.

    4. I’ll wait to reserve judgement until he’s given an undamaged car. His car still has damaged pieces from FP1 in Australia… Given that he’s still driving a Williams, I don’t expect him to suddenly fight for podiums once the damaged pieces are finally replaced, but I think his pace will definitely improve to where he’s as good or slightly better than Russell.

      I feel bad for him though… for all that he’s been through to finally be given the opportunity to come back to F1, to land with a team that’s so out of sorts has to be very frustrating. Williams can’t seem to find their rump with two hands and a map.

  2. I have a question on Mr Dieter Rencken regarding the standardised parts from the 2021 season. I’ve read an article where they mentioned a standardised “DRS mechanism.” I thought we were going to get rid of this system. Could you probably tell us something more about this?

  3. For what it’s worth last year pole time by Vettel was 1’27.958 so there is still some margin. 2018 fp2

    Interestingly though last year’s FP2 best time was 1 second slower than today with 1’29.817. 2018 qualifications

    Is there anything to read in there? Is it about faster cars, better weather or tyres? Or maybe teams being more pushy.

Comments are closed.