Piastri Tops Friday Practice At 2025 Bahrain GP

McLaren’s Oscar Piastri headed Lando Norris on a dominant Friday Practice for both drivers at the 2025 Bahrain Grand Prix.

Norris topped FP1 in hot conditions but as the sun turned to darkness, Piastri recovered from a tough FP1 session to top F2 and finish the day quickest under the lights.

 

FP1

Red Bull’s stand-in rookie FP1 driver, Ayumu Iwasa was first out on track but Haas’ fellow FP1 driver and Iwasa’s Japanese compatriot, Ryo Hirakawa soon set the pace on 1m 38.355 on the medium tyre.

Norris however quickly set the top pace of 1m 35.649 just six minutes into the session which he then lowered to 1m 35.249 six minutes later.

Williams’ Alex Albon continued the team’s strong pace as he found himself fastest at the halfway mark with 1m 35.180 as attention soon turned to the soft-tyre qualifying simulations.

Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto set the initial soft tyre benchmark of 1m 34.628 but his time was soon usurped by several drivers, which was ultimately topped by Norris who finished FP1 fastest with 1m 33.204 set with 14 minutes left in the session.

Williams’ Luke Browning finished quickest of the six FP1 rookie runners in 13th position, whilst Frederik Vesti and Iwasa set their quickest lap times on medium tyres ahead of Antonelli who only managed a hard-tyre run before a water leak curtailed his running early on.

Position	Driver	Team	Time
1	Lando Norris	McLaren	1m 33.204
2	Pierre Gasly	Alpine	+ 0.138
3	Lewis Hamilton	Ferrari	+ 0.596
4	Alex Albon	Williams	+ 0.724
5	Esteban Ocon	Haas	+ 0.980
6	Nico Hulkenberg	Sauber	+ 1.058
7	Jack Doohan	Alpine	+ 1.192
8	Liam Lawson	Racing Bulls	+ 1.193
9	Yuki Tsunoda	Red Bull	+ 1.280
10	Oscar Piastri	McLaren	+ 1.304
11	Gabriel Bortoleto	Sauber	+ 1.424
12	Isack Hadjar	Racing Bulls	+ 1.463
13	Luke Browning	Williams	+ 1.681
14	Dino Beganovic	Ferrari	+ 1.851
15	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	+ 1.912
16	Felipe Drugovich	Aston Martin	+ 1.994
17	Ryo Hirakawa	Haas	+ 2.057
18	Frederik Vesti	Mercedes	+ 2.121
19	Ayumu Iwasa	Red Bull	+ 2.271
20	Andrea Kimi Antonelli	Mercedes	+ 4.847

 

FP2

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was first on track and set 1m 33.347 as the benchmark time on mediums but Hamilton soon found himself quickest in the opening stint on 1m 32.157, which he then lowered to 1m 31.915 and 0.030 seconds quicker than Mercedes’ George Russell who briefly displaced his British compatriot.

Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso meanwhile suffered a steering wheel issue which saw his steering wheel eventually fall off whilst on track, but he eventually got back out for a soft-tyre qualifying simulation which put him 15th in the order.

Further up the order, Piastri emerged quickest on the soft-tyre qualifying simulation to top the session with 1m 30.505, whilst his teammate – Norris was 0.154s slower in second with Russell rounding out the top three.

Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar and Liam Lawson were the only pair to not set their best lap times on the soft tyre as they finished sixth and 12th respectively.

Position	Driver	Team	Time
1	Oscar Piastri	McLaren	1m 30.505
2	Lando Norris	McLaren	+ 0.154
3	George Russell	Mercedes	+ 0.527
4	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	+ 0.540
5	Andrea Kimi Antonelli	Mercedes	+ 0.722
6	Isack Hadjar	Racing Bulls	+ 0.733
7	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	+ 0.825
8	Lewis Hamilton	Ferrari	+ 1.071
9	Oliver Bearman	Haas	+ 1.079
10	Carlos Sainz	Williams	+ 1.118
11	Alex Albon	Williams	+ 1.191
12	Liam Lawson	Racing Bulls	+ 1.201
13	Gabriel Bortoleto	Sauber	+ 1.267
14	Jack Doohan	Alpine	+ 1.283
15	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin	+ 1.320
16	Esteban Ocon	Haas	+ 1.365
17	Pierre Gasly	Alpine	+ 1.442
18	Yuki Tsunoda	Red Bull	+ 1.519
19	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	+ 1.877
20	Nico Hulkenberg	Sauber	+ 1.991