Bahrain GP: Verstappen leads second practice session; Hamilton placed ninth

Sakhir (Bahrain), March 18 Reigning world champion Red Bull's Max Verstappen set the fastest time in the second practice session of the 2022 Bahrain Grand Prix, finishing ahead of Ferrari's Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz here on Friday.

Alpha Tauri's Pierre Gasly, who topped the first practice session, complained of a lack of grip in the cooler evening conditions, finishing 13th ahead of teammate Yuki Tsunoda.

Halfway into the hour, Verstappen fitted soft tyres to go fastest with a time of 1m 31.936s before Ferrari's Leclerc managed a fast lap that was just 0.087s off the pace. His teammate Carlos Sainz jumped to third later on but was half a second away.

However, seven-time champion Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton struggled with his car and then complained of a front brake issue midway through the session, finishing ninth and splitting the Haas drivers, as Kevin Magnussen rounded off the top 10 to cap off a good day for the Americans.

Mercedes' George Russell was therefore demoted to fourth (narrowly off Sainz) while Fernando Alonso took Position Five as the last driver within a second of Verstappen's pace.

Alfa Romeo's Valtteri Bottas managed to take sixth, the team having fixed his engine after the Finn was forced to sit out much of the first practice with a power unit issue. Red Bull's Sergio Perez was 1.022s off his teammate, the Mexican finishing seventh ahead of Haas's Mick Schumacher in P8.

McLaren had an anonymous showing, beginning FP2 on hard tyres (their rivals having begun on mediums) before switching to soft tyres. Lando Norris finished 11th and his teammate Daniel Ricciardo was 18th. Much like the McLaren drivers, neither of the Aston drivers showed their hands in FP2, with Stroll 16th and stand-in teammate Nico Hulkenberg 17th.

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