The Bahrain Grand Prix weekend is well under way and we’ve now had two hours of track action. But not for everybody – Max Verstappen was one of half-a-dozen drivers who sat out FP1 as a handful of rookies got their chance to shine in that practice session.
Everyone except for McLaren is saying that they expect McLaren to be the ones to dominate this weekend. That would be a historic achievement given Formula 1 has been heading to the Bahrain International Circuit every year since 2004 and the Woking-based outfit has never won there in all that time.
But if FP2, the more representative session of the day, was anything to go by then McLaren are clearly the ones to beat. Oscar Piastri ended the day at the top of the timesheets with Lando Norris close behind, both of them half-a-second quicker than anyone else.
There were moments of intrigue aplenty, particularly on FP1 when the Mercedes mechanics were spotted taking an unconventional approach to a problem on Kimi Antonelli’s car – more on that below. And in the second session of the day there was a rather worrying moment when the steering wheel came off Fernando Alonso’s car while he was driving on track.
Fortunately, Alonso managed to get it back on and return to the pits before disaster struck. And in more good news, Mirror Sport has all the headlines from the F1 paddock:
Ah, the hi-tech world of Formula 1, with cars worth millions of pounds and an enormous amount of data collected from every second on track. And yet sometimes, when things go wrong, you’ve just got to role your sleeves up and use a bit of old fashioned brute force to yank something off the car.
That’s what Mercedes had to do when Kimi Antonelli suffered a suspected water leak during FP1 which forced him to return to the garage. But as the team struggled to get the gearbox off the car, as the Sky Sports F1 pundits commentating live said, it led to some “quite bizarre” scenes.
Carlos Sainz ran the risk of becoming the first F1 driver to be fined under the FIA’s tough new rules around swearing or ‘misconduct’ as it now amounts to in the eyes of the governing body. He used the S-word in a press conference on Thursday, right under the nose of the FIA media delegate.
But it has now been confirmed that the Spaniard will face no further action despite his use of bad language. “Carlos was very apologetic and admitted that the language he used was not right. He said he would make amends. He has not been referred to the stewards,” an FIA spokesperson confirmed.
F1 engine manufacturers all attended a meeting with the FIA in the Bahrain paddock on Friday, leading to several conclusions being drawn. Most notably, it was made very clear that the current 2026 engine regulations are here to stay and there is no chance of V10 engines being brought back to the sport any time soon.
The FIA said: “All parties are committed to the 2026 regulations and look forward to the prospect of exciting racing. All parties agreed to continue discussions on the future technical direction of the sport. A level of electrification will always be part of any future considerations and the use of sustainable fuel will be an imperative.”
Formula 1 fans can watch every practice, qualifying and race live with Sky’s new Essential TV and Sky Sports bundle in a new deal that saves £192.
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Lewis Hamilton certainly isn’t a number two driver at Ferrari right now, but Johnny Herbert has warned his fellow Brit that he might face that fate soon unless he can lift his race performances to be on par with those of team-mate Charles Leclerc.
He said: “It is a surprise that he hasn’t quite gone in there and dominated that little bit more than we’re seeing or even really fighting close together because there’s been quite a difference between the two in a race scenario especially. It’s been a bit disappointing. I expected a little bit more just because of what he’s achieved in the past.”
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