Verstappen back, Vasseur displaced
The result of the second free practice session of the Bahrain Grand Prix, held today in the evening in Sakhir, provided some unexpected results. The world champion Max Verstappen, in fact, who after the tests was already considered by everyone to be the great favorite to win the fourth consecutive world title, did not go beyond sixth position. Of course, PL2 is not qualifying and the Dutchman's race pace seemed very good, but still the Red Bull standard bearer seemed less 'untouchable' than it was last year.
Speaking to journalists Verstappen didn't appear upset at all by the outcome of this session, but among the team principals of the rival teams there were those who were perplexed by the result of the second free practice session. Interviewed by Sky Sports F1 the Ferrari team principalFred Vasseurit was said sincerely “surprised” of the sixth position of #1: “I don't know what happened to Verstappen today, why I expected it to go a little faster. I was surprised, but I think he will find his pace again even on the flying lap tomorrow”commented.
Compact group, but the SF-24 improves
However, the French manager's attention is entirely on his team. Sainz finished FP2 in fourth position while Leclerc, thanks to traffic and a few too many mistakes, did not go beyond ninth position.
“Ferrari on the front row tomorrow? We will see – commented Vasseur, aware of how even Mercedes seems to be a treacherous opponent for the two reds – It went quite well but it's still difficult to get a clear picture of the performance. This morning in the first session we were all quite close. We try to improve our potential. We corrected the main problems of last year's car and with the wind that we had today it was quite clear that we have grown”he concluded.
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