Softer tyres in Bahrain may push teams towards two-stop strategies

The near one-second pace advantage Mercedes showed in the first practice session on Friday did not materialise in the second 90 minutes of running.

Having been the best part of a second clear of the nearest non-Mercedes in the opening session, Lewis Hamilton had just three-tenths of a second in hand over Max Verstappen’s Red Bull by the end of the day. There’s some encouragement there for Mercedes’ rivals, as the second practice session will be the more representative of the two as it is held in similar conditions to qualifying and the race.

But once again this year where there should be two Red Bulls near the top of the times, Verstappen’s is the only one. Alexander Albon’s crash in second practice is a setback for a driver still seeking to secure his place at the team for next year. He needs to bounce back in qualifying to give Red Bull reason to overlook his expensive error.

Following a series of races in cool conditions at European venues with generally low grip levels, Bahrain marks a sudden return to lower temperatures and a more abrasive surface. And with softer tyre compounds compared to last year, Pirelli is predicting teams will need to make multiple pit stops on Sunday.

“We know that the challenge in Bahrain is to manage the rear overheating,” said Pirelli’s head of motorsport and F1 Mario Isola. “Last year most of the teams were not using the C1, they were focussing on C2 and C3 and most of them are targeting a two-stop strategy.”

Pirelli has brought the softer C2, C3 and C4 tyres this weekend. “We decided to move one step softer to give an extra challenge to the teams, considering that we have the same product from last year,” said Isola.

Due to the pandemic, the Bahrain Grand Prix is also being held much later in the year than usual, so the teams have had more time to develop their cars. After just one day of running, three teams have already lapped quicker than they did at this race last year.

This raises the possibility some of the quickest teams may attempt to pass through Q2 using the medium tyre compound, in order to gain a strategic advantage for the race.

The requirement to test new tyres in both sessions, plus Albon’s crash and further disruption caused by a dog on the track, cut into the amount of time teams had to perform long runs, and leaves some question marks over the balance of performance across the field. But the total contrast in grip and tyre demands compared to the last race means we could see some significant differences in the midfield.

As ever, it’s doubtful anyone will challenge Mercedes on pure pace. But on the strength of today Verstappen could be quick enough to get on the front row if Hamilton or Valtteri Bottas slip up. Whether Albon can take the top four qualifying position the RB16 is surely capable of is one of tomorrow’s most pressing questions.

Quotes: Dieter Rencken

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

Combined practice times

Pos	Driver	Car	FP1	FP2	Total laps
1	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1’29.033	1’28.971	68
2	Max Verstappen	Red Bull-Honda	1’30.294	1’29.318	52
3	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	1’29.482	1’29.336	71
4	Sergio Perez	Racing Point-Mercedes	1’30.000	1’29.403	63
5	Daniel Ricciardo	Renault	1’30.508	1’29.462	57
6	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri-Honda	1’30.049	1’29.551	70
7	Lando Norris	McLaren-Renault	1’31.392	1’29.841	57
8	Lance Stroll	Racing Point-Mercedes	1’30.426	1’29.871	62
9	Daniil Kvyat	AlphaTauri-Honda	1’31.020	1’29.900	71
10	Alexander Albon	Red Bull-Honda	1’30.302	1’30.014	51
11	Carlos Sainz Jnr	McLaren-Renault	1’30.018	1’30.271	64
12	Esteban Ocon	Renault	1’30.384	1’30.085	58
13	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	1’30.628	1’30.110	59
14	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	1’30.589	1’30.407	59
15	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	1’30.896	1’30.627	60
16	Robert Kubica	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	1’30.732		24
17	Romain Grosjean	Haas-Ferrari	1’30.832	1’31.119	56
18	Kevin Magnussen	Haas-Ferrari	1’30.854	1’30.849	56
19	Kimi Raikkonen	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari		1’30.928	34
20	Nicholas Latifi	Williams-Mercedes	1’32.000	1’30.973	61
21	George Russell	Williams-Mercedes		1’31.636	29
22	Roy Nissany	Williams-Mercedes	1’32.801		27

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

Teams’ progress vs 2019

2020 Bahrain Grand Prix

• Grosjean reveals extent of burns to right hand
• ‘I put both my hands in the fire’: Grosjean describes his 28 seconds trapped in an inferno
• “Thank you for saving my life” Grosjean tells crash scene marshals
• The urgent questions F1 must answer following Grosjean’s fireball crash
• Grosjean: I tried three times to escape from burning cockpit

Browse all 2020 Bahrain Grand Prix articles