McLaren stole the show in the Bahrain nightlights on Friday, with Oscar Piastri leading the way in Free Practice 2 , just in front of teammate Lando Norris . The Woking-based team's 1-2 punch left reigning world champion Max Verstappen and Red Bull scratching their heads after a difficult session.
McLaren sets the pace early leaving Max Verstappen frustrated in Bahrain GP
Following Norris' trailblazing in FP1, Piastri was quickest in FP2 with a 1:30.505, 0.154s up on his teammate. Behind the McLarens, the distance grew significantly larger — George Russell came in third but was already half a second behind. Verstappen, on the other hand, was as low as seventh, close to eight-tenths from the top.
It was a reflective Max Verstappen post-session, with the Dutchman visibly expressing his disappointment with Red Bull's lack of speed and grip in general.
“[It] took like one lap, two laps to get into it, but still the gap was quite massive, so [I’m] not entirely happy,” Max Verstappen said. “[I was] just struggling a lot with grip, feeling in general. The balance wasn’t too bad but just, yeah, off, and quite a bit of work to do also in the long run.
Max Verstappen, who took a break from FP1 to give rookie Ayumu Iwasa some mileage, said Red Bull's Friday programme was reliant largely on soft-tyre testing — but the news wasn't good.
“We’re just too slow basically every lap and it was honestly not a lot of fun out there in the long run. A bit of drift practice at the end there as well!” he added.
Yuki Tsunoda still finding his feet
Yuki Tsunoda, in just his second race weekend with the senior Red Bull team, ended the session 18th overall and admitted it was “not the finest session”.
“I [wasn’t] able to put it all together; also, there was a lot of miscommunication between our side of the garage in the radio for example. I think that’s part of the learning process because it’s [the] fifth session from when I jumped in. But yeah, it was not obviously the finest session,” he said.
Tsunoda suggested there could be different configurations between the two Red Bulls as the team seeks to learn more but feels there is more to come— if they can sort out some operational mistakes.
“I’m sure we’re going to change a lot of things, and I mean for now it seems [like we’re] struggling, but at the same time I know a lot more will come from cleaner operations and everything. So I’m still feeling optimistic, but it will be hard for now to go through Q3.” he added.
He joked that maybe he and race engineer ‘Woody’ would need a night on the town to work on their communication.
Also read: Lando Norris sets scorching FP1 pace in Bahrain as rookie runners make their presence felt
What's next?
As qualifying approaches, Red Bull will be working through the night to close the gap to a very confident McLaren camp. If Friday was anything to go by, Verstappen's dominance isn't written in stone — and the battle at the front may be far tighter than anticipated.
McLaren sets the pace early leaving Max Verstappen frustrated in Bahrain GP
Following Norris' trailblazing in FP1, Piastri was quickest in FP2 with a 1:30.505, 0.154s up on his teammate. Behind the McLarens, the distance grew significantly larger — George Russell came in third but was already half a second behind. Verstappen, on the other hand, was as low as seventh, close to eight-tenths from the top.
"We’re just too slow" 💬
— Formula 1 (@F1) April 12, 2025
Verstappen not happy as he reflects on big gap to McLaren in Bahrain #F1 #BahrainGP https://t.co/zi0cms1qrH
It was a reflective Max Verstappen post-session, with the Dutchman visibly expressing his disappointment with Red Bull's lack of speed and grip in general.
“[It] took like one lap, two laps to get into it, but still the gap was quite massive, so [I’m] not entirely happy,” Max Verstappen said. “[I was] just struggling a lot with grip, feeling in general. The balance wasn’t too bad but just, yeah, off, and quite a bit of work to do also in the long run.
Max Verstappen, who took a break from FP1 to give rookie Ayumu Iwasa some mileage, said Red Bull's Friday programme was reliant largely on soft-tyre testing — but the news wasn't good.
“We’re just too slow basically every lap and it was honestly not a lot of fun out there in the long run. A bit of drift practice at the end there as well!” he added.
Yuki Tsunoda still finding his feet
Yuki Tsunoda, in just his second race weekend with the senior Red Bull team, ended the session 18th overall and admitted it was “not the finest session”.
“I [wasn’t] able to put it all together; also, there was a lot of miscommunication between our side of the garage in the radio for example. I think that’s part of the learning process because it’s [the] fifth session from when I jumped in. But yeah, it was not obviously the finest session,” he said.
Tsunoda suggested there could be different configurations between the two Red Bulls as the team seeks to learn more but feels there is more to come— if they can sort out some operational mistakes.
“I’m sure we’re going to change a lot of things, and I mean for now it seems [like we’re] struggling, but at the same time I know a lot more will come from cleaner operations and everything. So I’m still feeling optimistic, but it will be hard for now to go through Q3.” he added.
He joked that maybe he and race engineer ‘Woody’ would need a night on the town to work on their communication.
Also read: Lando Norris sets scorching FP1 pace in Bahrain as rookie runners make their presence felt
What's next?
As qualifying approaches, Red Bull will be working through the night to close the gap to a very confident McLaren camp. If Friday was anything to go by, Verstappen's dominance isn't written in stone — and the battle at the front may be far tighter than anticipated.
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