Max Verstappen pipped Charles Leclerc as the pair sat half a second clear of the field in Practice 2 at the Bahrain Grand Prix.
As teams completed qualifying simulations on the soft tyre, the reigning champion set a 1m31.936s in the Red Bull, 0.09s clear of the Ferrari driver who set his best time on a second flying lap.
It wasn’t all plain-sailing though as the Monegasque was involved in an incident with Yuki Tsunoda exiting Turn 8, resulting in the Japanese driver being under investigation by the stewards.
Leclerc and Tsunoda almost tangle at Turn 8 ?#BahrainGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/qltdXhfKcC
— Formula 1 (@F1) March 18, 2022
It was a more problematic session for Leclerc’s teammate Carlos Sainz, who had an error-strewn first run and was 0.5s down on his18 second attempt in third, just ahead of George Russell in fourth for Mercedes.
The problems also continued for Lewis Hamilton down in ninth, 1.2s off the pace in ninth with porpoising, brake pulling and a reported DRS issue on his car.
Fernando Alonso was fifth for Alpine, with Valtteri Bottas a strong sixth in the Alfa Romeo as the misfiring problem that restricted him to just two laps in FP1 was resolved.
Sergio Perez was full second slower than Red Bull teammate Verstappen in seventh, while Haas enjoyed a very encouraging session with Mick Schumacher eighth and Kevin Magnussen 10th.
A positive end to Friday as #FP2 comes to a close ???
P8 for Mick ⏱ 1:33.085
P10 for Kevin ⏱ 1:33.183#HaasF1 #BahrainGP pic.twitter.com/zIoXS4Q4Pi— Haas F1 Team (@HaasF1Team) March 18, 2022
In contrast, AlphaTauri, who had led the way in the afternoon via Pierre Gasly, slumped to 13th and 14th with the Frenchman complaining of a lack of overall grip.
McLaren also continues to disappoint with Lando Norris 11th and Daniel Ricciardo 18th with just 12 laps on the board due to a water leak.
After a decent morning, the two Aston Martins dropped to 16th and 17th, Lance Stroll just fractionally ahead of super-sub Nico Hulkenberg.
Williams brought up the field as Nicholas Latifi once again led new teammate Alex Albon.
At the front, a Red Bull versus Ferrari duel certainly appears on the cards for now.
Russell’s lap did offer Mercedes some hope of being in the mix but all will be revealed when the teams unleash their new 2022 cars for the first time in qualifying on Saturday.
Full results from Practice 2 can be seen below:
FP2 CLASSIFICATION ?#BahrainGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/WLi1iMybvK
— Formula 1 (@F1) March 18, 2022