Bahrain Grand Prix: Fernando Alonso edges out Red Bulls in second practice

Verstappen was second in practice but the pace of the Red Bull on longer runs appears to be the class of the field

Fernando Alonso pipped pre-season favourites Red Bull to set the pace in practice at the Bahrain Grand Prix.

The Aston Martin driver was 0.169 seconds quicker than world champion Max Verstappen, with the second Red Bull of Sergio Perez third fastest.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was fourth and Lewis Hamilton the fastest Mercedes in eighth, 0.636secs off the pace.

Nico Hulkenberg’s Haas, Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin and Pierre Gasly’s Alpine filled the gaps ahead of Hamilton.

McLaren’s Lando Norris was ninth fastest ahead of the Alfa Romeo of Zhou Guanyu. Hamilton’s team-mate George Russell was down in 13th and the second Ferrari of Carlos Sainz 14th after making an error on his fastest lap.

The session was relatively incident-free. McLaren’s rookie driver Oscar Piastri had a big lock-up when he saw Stroll’s Aston Martin in front of him late at the first corner, and Alonso abandoned a race run on the medium tyre when he locked up entering Turn 10.

The soft tyre was the preferred tyre for all drivers on the race runs, suggesting it will be used by most for the start of the race.

More to follow.