Formula 1 FP1 and FP2 results: Verstappen outside top 5 both sessions

Despite Verstappen’s placings, there’s also reason to believe that Red Bull may not have turned up their engines for the first two practice sessions Thursday.

While Max Verstappen and the Red Bulls are still favored to top the grid for Formula 1’s first race in Bahrain, it was all Mercedes for Thursday’s practice sessions.

Verstappen has been all the rage since testing showed Red Bull’s prowess, but he only landed 6th in both free practice sessions in Bahrain Thursday. In the first session, former Red Bull driver and current Visa Cashapp RB driver Daniel Ricciardo topped the session with a 1:32.869, coming ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri and then his own teammate Yuki Tsunoda. Here’s what FP1 classifications looked like:

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FP2 was all Mercedes. It was Lewis Hamilton who topped the charts, with his 1:30.374 coming in just 0.206 seconds faster than his teammate George Russell in second. Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso kept it close in both sessions, finishing fifth in FP1 and third in FP2. The VCARB cars didn’t perform nearly as well this time around, with Ricciardo placing 12th and Tsunoda 15th:

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While some may be looking for some competition on Saturday’s race day with Verstappen not topping either chart, it may not be wise to get your hopes up. When taking a look at the telemetry data from the free practice sessions, it appears as if Red Bull (and Ferrari, for that matter) have yet to fully unleash their engine during practice.

FP3 will take place at 7:30 a.m. EST on Friday, while Q1 of qualifying will be at 11:00 a.m. The race will begin at 10:00 a.m. Saturday.

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