SAKHIR, Bahrain — Reigning champion Max Verstappen finished the first day of the new Formula One season as the fastest driver after narrowly beating Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc to the fastest time in Friday practice.
Verstappen’s Red Bull lapped the Bahrain International Circuit in 1:31.936 to go 0.087s faster than Leclerc, with both drivers using the soft compound tyres to set their fastest laps.
Red Bull and Ferrari looked like the two teams to beat during preseason testing, and Verstappen’s lap was 0.593s quicker than the fastest Mercedes time set by George Russell in fourth place.
Verstappen’s advantage was clear around the lap, gaining lap time on the Ferraris in Turn 7 and Turn 13 and a significant step in performance over Mercedes in Turn 1.
The pace of the Red Bull over longer runs, used to simulate how he car will react in race trim with heavy fuel, indicated Verstappen could pull away from the pack on Sunday if he leads at the end of the first lap. His average lap time over a 13-lap stint was as much as a second faster than a comparable run by Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari, while Leclerc’s data on heavy fuel was too limited to make a clear comparison.
Mercedes’ struggles from preseason testing carried into the first two practice sessions in Bahrain, with the car bouncing along the straights as it continued to suffer from a phenomenon known as porpoising.
Porpoising is caused by the underside of the car running too close to the ground, which disrupts the airflow underneath and causes the underfloor aerodynamics to stall and lose downforce. The car rises on its suspension when this happens, resulting in the underfloor aerodynamics working again, which in turn forces the car back down, starting the bouncing cycle over again.
Mercedes introduced a reprofiled underfloor on its car on Friday, which it hoped would help the issue when combined with rods connecting the floor and the upper bodywork to prevent the floor from bending.
While the porpoising was not as dramatic as it had been in testing, Mercedes continued to lack performance compared to its main rivals and Russell had to lift off on the entry to Turn 14 on his fastest lap to combat the issue.
Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton finished the session ninth fastest in the Mercedes after complaining of both bouncing and a problem under braking on his fastest lap. His car’s Drag Reduction System also failed to open on the main straight on his fastest lap, costing him 0.6s in lap time, which explains his gap to teammate Russell.
Based on Russell’s lap time, Mercedes appears to have the third fastest car, with the chasing pack, led by Fernando Alonso’s Alpine, a further 0.35s adrift. However, Alpine’s pace over long runs looked comparable with the Mercedes and McLaren.
“We’re a long way off, we’re not bluffing like people assume we were,” Hamilton said. “It is what it is.
“We’ll work as hard as we can through it and do what we can. I’m just realistic. We’re not going to be in the race for the win here.
“Red Bull are a long, long way ahead. It’s in the region of eight to ninth tenths ahead of us and Ferrari is probably something like half a second, six tenths ahead of us. So we’re fighting and scrapping with whoever is behind them.”
McLaren failed to impress on the timesheets, but after missing so much of last week’s preseason test with a brake cooling issue, the team ran a different run plan to rival teams to make up for lost ground.
Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas, the second Red Bull of Sergio Perez and Haas driver Mick Schumacher also looked competitive over a single lap, as F1’s midfield looks closely matched among at least seven teams.
A little over a second split Alonso in fifth place and Sebastian Vettel’s replacement at Aston Martin, Nico Hulkenberg, in 17th place, suggesting the margins between getting knocked out in the first part of qualifying and making the top ten will be slim.
