Bahrain, FP2: Alonso takes over at the top

Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso beat defending FIA Formula One World Champion Max Verstappen and Red Bull team-mate Sergio Pérez to claim top spot in the second practice session for this weekend’s season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix.

The evening session, held in temperatures much more representative of those the drivers will encounter in qualifying and in Sunday’s race, got underway with Ferrari’s

Carlos Sainz taking an early lead on soft tyres with a lap of 1m31.843s before team-mate Charles Leclerc moved ahead to take P1 and hold it until a third of the session had elapsed.

With 25 minutes gone, Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll bolted on soft tyres and the Canadian leapfrogged both Ferrari drivers to take P1 with a lap of 1:31.450. His time at the top was brief, however, as Haas’s Nico Hülkenberg appeared on softs and he edged ahead by just under a tenth of a second.

Pérez, who had gone quickest in the opening session, then took P1 on soft tyres. The Mexican driver set the benchmark at 1:31.078 and Leclerc, who went for a second run on softs, couldn’t match it.

Both were then beaten by Alonso, who posted a lap of 1:30.907 and Verstappen who finished 0.169s behind the Spaniard.

Behind the top four, Hulkenberg held on to fifth place ahead of Stroll, Alpine’s Pierre Gasly and Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton. McLaren’s Lando Norris and Afla Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu rounded out the top 10.