Bahrain: Verstappen wins 2nd free practice in front of Ferrari duo Leclerc and Sainz – Schumacher lands in front of Hamilton

Max Verstappen teased Lewis Hamilton, quickly declared himself the well-deserved world champion – and when it finally started in Formula 1, the Red Bull star also delivered. Hamilton, on the other hand, had a very bad start to the new era of the premier class.

In free practice for the Bahrain Grand Prix (Sunday, 4:00 p.m. in the live ticker), Verstappen turned the fastest lap, leaving the record world champion in the Mercedes far, far behind. In the end, 1.2 seconds separated the two permanent rivals, Hamilton only in ninth place.

“We have big problems and what we’ve tried so far hasn’t solved them,” said Hamilton, “unfortunately we can’t do much about it overnight, it’s not the setup.”

Other than that, quite remarkable things happened in training. More than ever, Mick Schumacher can hope for a more successful second season – at the start he was eighth (+1.1) ahead of Hamilton. For a year Schumacher was only able to follow, maybe Haas actually used the rule amendment for a big leap.

Vettel substitute Hülkenberg far back

“It was only the second practice session,” said Schumacher with a grin: “But it feels good. If we make it into the top ten in qualifying, I’d be on cloud nine.”

In the car of Sebastian Vettel, who was suffering from Corona, Nico Hülkenberg (+2.1) had to return to Formula 1 after a year and a half. However, the disappointingly slow Aston Martin also limited him. Substitute driver Hülkenberg ended up in 17th place, and his teammate Lance Stroll also finished 16th.

“I was surprised how big the difference to the old cars is,” said Hülkenberg, “the tires, the braking process. But I’m quite satisfied, I felt more comfortable with every exit.”

Verstappen distances Hamilton in training

And Mercedes? Hamilton’s new teammate George Russell got along a little better, finishing fourth (+0.5) behind the strong Ferrari duo Charles Leclerc (+0.087) and Carlos Sainz (+0.5), well behind Verstappen. However, the Silver Arrows jumped visibly on the straight and had major problems with this well-known teething problem of the new aerodynamic concept.

Hamilton, in particular, had already stacked very low after the test drives. When asked about this, Verstappen reacted with irony in Bahrain. “I think Mercedes will be beaten, I think they have a terrible car,” said the Dutchman. In Bahrain, however, the Mercedes problems were real, at least on Friday.

It is therefore questionable whether the duel between Verstappen and Hamilton will be repeated so quickly. The rivalry had shaped the entire past year, at the finale in Abu Dhabi Verstappen was only able to take the title from Hamilton thanks to a highly controversial race director decision.

Hamilton and Verstappen are still busy with the controversial World Cup final

Of course, that’s still a main issue, and Verstappen has been dealing with it aggressively so far. Does he have to prove something after winning the title? “I proved everything last season, with the most poles and the most wins,” said Verstappen, “people forget that.”

Hamilton, however, does not want to talk much about what was three months ago. However, he then said about the sometimes tough duels with Verstappen: “I will be a more aggressive driver this year, you will see.” First of all, it has to be established whether he has the car for it.

You might also be interested in: Hülkenberg’s tricky comeback: “Anything but easy”

(with SID)

The F1 season opener in Bahrain: all the questions and answers

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