Verstappen was the big story of the night. While it’s a good bet that he will be Hamilton’s main challenger, the real bet is whether Verstappen can overtake him.
SAKHIR, Bahrain—It might seem a sign of the future. Max Verstappen showed that hr will be the one to watch this weekend at the Bahrain Grand Prix. The Red Bull driver set the fastest time of 1:30:847, ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris and Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton in practice sessions Friday evening at the Sakhir International Circuit.
Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz finished In fourth place–a hopeful sign–as the Prancing Horse team seeks to improve on last year’s disappointing results.
Sainz finished ahead of the second Mercedes, driven by Valtteri Bottas, who had trouble with the car from the start of the session. Bottas called it “undrivable” by the end of the night.
Daniel Ricciardo had been down in the standings most of the evening, but a good performance near the end got him in sixth, three-tenths of a second down from Verstappen. It shows nothing is basically wrong, except for the need to get used to his new drive.
Exceptional rookie Yuki Tsunoda, who finished seventh, ran in the top five until an unknown issue made the Alpha Tauri driver come into the pits with only a few minutes remaining. Lance Stroll took eighth in his Aston Martin as the Canadian remains near the grid’s top. Another Alpha Tauri driver, Pierre Gasly, finished in ninth.
Not being very noticeable was the second Red Bull of Sergio Perez, who, like Ricciardo, is getting used to his new ride and finished tenth.
The session was very much trouble-free with only Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Raikkonen hitting the wall at turn two, tearing off his front wing. But the Finn managed to return to the pits to fix the problem and returned to the track near the end of the session. Haas F1’s Nikita Mazapin spun early in the session at turn 10 but recovered and continued.
Verstappen was the big story of the night. While it’s a good bet that Verstappen will be Hamilton’s main challenger, the real bet is whether Verstappen can overtake him.
