Hamilton and Alonso battle Verstappen in Bahrain practice

The British Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) He sent this Thursday in the second free practice of the Bahrain Grand Prix, where the Mercedes warned of their level and the Spanish Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) He joined the party finishing third, less than three tenths behind the Englishman.

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Hamilton left the time at 1 minute, 30 seconds and 374 thousandths, 206 thousandths less than his teammate and compatriot George Russell, while the Spanish Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) He came fourth, 395 thousandths behind the Englishman, and the Mexican 'Checo' Pérez finished tenth.

Although the weather does not improve the best time set last week by Sainz in the tests, since it dropped to 1 minute and 29 seconds, it does show the step forward for the Mercedes this season.

However, it seems that the Red Bull They still have the key to this Saturday's qualification, despite the fact that neither Pérez, tenth, nor the Dutchman Max Verstappen (Red Bull), Sixth, they wanted to show off on the Sakhir route.

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An appetizer of this Friday's qualification. After playing hide and seek during the first free practice session, the big favorites took to the track as soon as the traffic light stopped being red and although they continued to keep several tricks up their sleeve, they began to show the real pace of their cars in this Bahrain Grand Prix, the first of the season.

The red tires – the softest – flooded the cars and in just three minutes the best times were already below 1.32, something that had not happened in the entire first free practice session, in which the best time had been set by the Australian. Daniel Ricciardo (Visa Cash App RB), with a 1:32,869.

The Monegasque Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) was the first to go down to one minute and 31 seconds, but he saw from his visor how the British Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) He destroyed the partials and left the time at 1:30.751, a time eight tenths better than Leclerc's which made him confidently lead this second free practice session.

Nobody wanted to miss this opportunity to try soft tires and one of them was Alonso, who a few minutes after hamilton was exhibited on the Sakhir route, he was 284 thousandths behind the Englishman despite his bad first sector.

It had not yet appeared Verstappenthe triple world champion and who seemed to be the great rival to beat of the day, but the Dutchman stayed behind Hamilton and also Alonso, and did not seem to leave a very good feeling on the track, although, of course, the This Friday will be another story.

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Neither Leclerc could improve the time of hamilton and, in fact, he had a good scare in one of the last corners of the circuit, because as he himself admitted he made a mistake that almost caused him to go in front of the wall, although he knew how to direct the car to return it to the pits.

Only Russel He was able to get closer to the times of his compatriot, who improved his partials again, to keep up with the pace and get just over two tenths behind the seven-time world champion, who made it clear that he still has a whole season left to enjoy the team in the one that has been there for thirteen years and that will leave at the end of the season to wear red.

In the absence of one more free practice session, the key is to know the amount of gasoline he had in his 'Mad Max' car, which is, without a doubt, the main candidate to take the victory this Saturday, despite having preferred not 'showing themselves' in this second round, very similar due to temperatures and schedules to what the drivers will encounter in qualifying this Friday and the race on Saturday.

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With information from EFE.

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