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Bahrain Grand Prix
Mercedes topped both practice sessions for the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix as Red Bull endured a torrid day on Friday. Red Bull was favored heading to Imola but fortunes swung in Mercedes' favor as the reigning championship team managed a one-two in both practices while its rival finished each session with just one driver. Valtteri Bottas was fastest in both, edging Lewis Hamilton by just .010 seconds in the second practice and .041 in the first. Pierre Gasly, who briefly separated the two Mercedes drivers, was .078 slower than Bottas in the second practice. It is his AlphaTauri team's home race, with its Faenza base located 15 kilometers from the track Red Bull driver Max Verstappen, who looks set to be Hamilton's closest rival this season, had a problem with his car early in the second practice and his session ended abruptly 10 minutes in. Verstappen had been third-fastest in the morning, .058 behind Bottas. Verstappen's teammate Sergio Perez failed to finish the morning practic
Max Verstappen got the Formula One season underway Friday with the fastest time in the first practice for the Bahrain Grand Prix. The Red Bull driver was .298 seconds ahead of Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas and .503 clear of McLaren's Lando Norris. World champion Lewis Hamilton led early on for Mercedes but dropped back to finish with the fourth-quickest time. The British driver was .527 seconds behind Verstappen. There is a second practice on Friday afternoon. Hamilton is looking to win a record eighth F1 title to move one ahead of Michael Schumacher, whose 22-year-old son Mick Schumacher is making his F1 debut with Haas. He finished the first session in 19th place.