The sun set on day one in Bahrain and ended with Free Practice 2 under the floodlights, matching the ambience the Bahrain Grand Prix will be raced under.
For Free Practice 2, 3 and qualifying, race control has re-added track limits at Turn 4 and will lead to lap times being invalidated if drivers exceed these limits.
The top fifteen drivers were split but less than a second and sitting on the top spot was Max Verstappen again. Friday has been his day after he was also the strongest driver in the earlier session. Sergio Pérez still couldn’t match his Red Bull Racing teammate, finishing down in tenth.
Lando Norris has also been a star in Friday’s sessions. He finished the earlier session third fastest and went one better during the second session to take second. McLaren F1 Team are looking like the ones to watch this weekend, with Daniel Ricciardo coming up sixth fastest.
Lewis Hamilton wasn’t able to dethrone Verstappen from his top of the time sheets and had to settle with first fastest. Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team teammate Valtteri Bottas had a tricky time when it came to the new track limits at Turn 4. He had four lap times deleted in a row. He stated the car was ‘undrivable’ as the session came to a close. He finished fifth.
Another session, another promising running for Scuderia Ferrari. Carlos Sainz Jr. has shown he’s not playing around and wants to battle at the top. He came in fourth place with Charles Leclerc in twelth.
Yuki Tsunoda has continued to impress on his first F1 race weekend. He set a time just four tenths slower than Verstappen’s fastest and finished seventh. He did have a small issue at the end of the session and had to pit, Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda are yet to release any details on the issue. Pierre Gasly finished not too far behind in ninth.
Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team don’t look as strong as they were under the Racing Point banner last year. Lance Stroll was the fastest of the pair of drivers, finishing in eighth. Sebastian Vettel couldn’t break into the top ten and had to settle with fourteenth fastest.
Another team that hasn’t seem to have impressed is Alpine F1 Team. Neither driver finished in the top half of the table with Esteban Ocon in eleventh and Fernando Alonso in fifteenth.
Kimi Räikkönen’s session was not the best for him. The Finnish driver crashed into the wall at Turn 2 and the impact took off his front wing. His car didn’t look too healthy afterwards as he limped his way back to pits. He was able to get back out again but could do no better than sixteenth. Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN teammate Antonio Giovinazzi finished in thirteenth.
Williams Racing’s woes seem to continue heading into the 2021 season. George Russell finished in seventeenth place, nearly one and a half seconds behind Verstappen on top. Teammate Nicholas Latififinished nineteenth.
Nikita Mazepin suffered his first spin in his F1 career at Turn 4, and things failed to get better for him after. The Uralkali Haas F1 Team driver finished in eighteenth place with teammate Mick Schumacher taking the bottom spot in twentieth.
2021 Bahrain Grand Prix – Free Practice 2 times
| Pos | # | Driver | Nat. | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
| 1 | 33 | Max Verstappen | NED | Red Bull Racing Honda | 1:30.847 | 23 | |
| 2 | 4 | Lando Norris | GBR | McLaren F1 Team | 1:30.942 | =+0.095s | 25 |
| 3 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | GBR | Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team | 1:31.082 | =+0.235s | 24 |
| 4 | 55 | Carlos Sainz Jr. | ESP | Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow | 1:31.127 | =+0.280s | 26 |
| 5 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | FIN | Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team | 1:31.218 | =+0.371s | 23 |
| 6 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | AUS | McLaren F1 Team | 1:31.230 | =+0.383s | 22 |
| 7 | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | JAP | Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda | 1:31.294 | =+0.447s | 23 |
| 8 | 18 | Lance Stroll | CAN | Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team | 1:31.393 | =+0.546s | 24 |
| 9 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | FRA | Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda | 1:31.483 | =+0.636s | 27 |
| 10 | 11 | Sergio Pérez | MEX | Red Bull Racing Honda | 1:31.503 | =+0.656s | 23 |
| 11 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | FRA | Alpine F1 Team | 1:31.601 | =+0.754s | 24 |
| 12 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | MON | Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow | 1:31.612 | =+0.765s | 26 |
| 13 | 99 | Antonio Giovinazzi | ITA | Alfa Romeo Racing Orlen | 1:31.740 | =+0.893s | 27 |
| 14 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | GER | Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team | 1:31.769 | =+0.922s | 26 |
| 15 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | ESP | Alpine F1 Team | 1:31.770 | =+0.923s | 24 |
| 16 | 7 | Kimi Räikkönen | FIN | Alfa Romeo Racing Orlen | 1:31.862 | =+1.015s | 15 |
| 17 | 63 | George Russell | GBR | Williams Racing | 1:32.331 | =+1.484s | 28 |
| 18 | 47 | Mick Schumacher | GER | Uralkali Haas F1 Team | 1:33.297 | =+2.450s | 24 |
| 19 | 6 | Nicholas Latifi | CAN | Williams Racing | 1:33.400 | =+2.553s | 28 |
| 20 | 9 | Nikita Mazepin | RUS | Uralkali Haas F1 Team | 1:33.449 | =+2.602s | 19 |
