In the FIA press conference after the first free training, Andrea Stella said that Bahrain for McLaren was “the most difficult route in the first part of the season”. But less than three hours later, his statement was quite absurd when Oscar Piatri and Lando Norris dominated the second free training for the Grand Prix of Bahrain 2025.
Piatri scored a best time of 1: 30.505 minutes under floodlights and was therefore 0.154 seconds faster than Norris. The rest of the world? Chipped off. George Russell (Mercedes) in third place and Charles Leclerc in 4th place had more than half a second behind. Andrea Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) in 5th place was even missing 0.722 seconds.
Even if it was just a free training, it speaks very much for the forecast of many experts that Bahrain McLaren should be even better than Suzuka. Mathias Lauda said, for example, during the live broadcast of “Servustv”: “I think they are clearly going around the pole and the victory. But behind it is just between Mercedes and Ferrari.”
An impression that was also confirmed in the Longrun simulations. Norris drove in direct comparison with Max Verstappen (Red Bull) on the soft on average 0.6 seconds per round faster. And Piatri made similarly impressive times on the hard tire. It is therefore clear that McLaren is a high -quality favorite in both qualifying and in the race.
What was going on with Alonso and Norris?
Speaking of Verstappen: The reigning world champion took seventh place, 0.825 seconds behind Piatris Best time and 0.092 seconds behind Isack Hadjar (6th/racing bulls), who was surprisingly the fastest representative from the Red Bull squad on Friday. And Verstappen was not at all satisfied with his RB21. Once he complained about the balance, then he criticized the performance of the brakes.
Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) took eighth place in second free training. He was 0.531 seconds slower on his fastest lap than his team -mate Leclerc. And Nico Hülkenberg (clean), the only German in the field, was 1.991 seconds behind 20.
A curious situation occurred right from the start when Fernando Alonso suddenly had the loose steering wheel of his Aston Martin on his second round! In the middle of the trip, all the advertisements had ended, which is why the 43 -year -old clicked and put on the steering wheel – and drove a few meters without steering in the meantime.
His team later only spoke of a “steering wheel problem”, initially without responding to details. At least it was revealed that some parts of the steering system can be changed before Alonso can continue the program. Until the end of the session, he still managed almost 20 rounds (15th place).
A little later, Norris reported on the box radio: “I have to change the helmet and the Hans. And please clean the headrest.” The immediate suspicion of some observers: he possibly surrounded himself in the cockpit. But it does not fit that when asked by his racing engineer, he replied whether this must be done immediately or that he could still drive a round: “No, I can still finish this run.”
The McLaren team clarified: “It was all about Lando’s comfort in the helmet. Nothing dramatic.”