Lando Norris has seemed pessimistic about McLaren's pace for the Bahrain Grand Prix. It didn't seem that way on track as he and teammate Oscar Piastri dominated Friday practice.
After a setback at the Japanese Grand Prix, McLaren is hoping to get back on top of Formula 1 in Bahrain this week.
Piastri expected the desert heat could make it a “friendly” track for McLaren — which has never won in Bahrain — but Norris predicted a “trickier weekend.”
Max Verstappen gave his title defense a big boost with his win in Japan last week but needed a stunning lap in qualifying to take pole position before holding off Norris and Piastri for the entire race.
McLaren on top
Norris was fastest in the first practice by .238 seconds from Alpine's Pierre Gasly. Lewis Hamilton was third fastest for Ferrari, .596 off Norris' time, after earlier reporting his car was “not working at all.”
Piastri was 10th in that session but set the pace in the second practice, held in evening conditions more representative of Sunday's race. The Australian beat Norris by .154. No other driver was within half a second of Piastri, with George Russell third fastest for Mercedes, .527 off the pace.
Norris had said on Thursday that low-speed corners in Bahrain could work against McLaren.
“We still know that’s one of our weaker areas, so I’m not expecting bad things, I’m just expecting a trickier weekend than the last few,” said Norris, who leads Verstappen by one point in the standings.
Piastri predicted the desert should suit McLaren's car, whose relatively low tire wear could give the team an edge, but warned “it doesn’t take much to go wrong for us to not be at the front."
“It being a little bit more difficult on tires and a bit warmer probably will be more friendly for us than others,” said Piastri, who won the Chinese GP last month.
It was a tough day for Red Bull as Verstappen was seventh in the second practice, behind Isack Hadjar from the sister team Racing Bulls. Verstappen didn't take part in the first session because of rules on giving track time to young drivers. His new teammate Yuki Tsunoda was ninth in the first session and 18th in the second as he struggles to adapt to the Red Bull car.
Future plans and present battles
The president of F1's governing body, the FIA, is pushing a plan which could transform the series, but his way of running things has stirred up opposition.
The FIA held a meeting in Bahrain with representatives of F1's engine manufacturers after FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem floated the idea of bringing back “the roaring sound of the V10 (engine) running on sustainable fuel."
That would be a big change from F1's current V6 turbo hybrid engines and the new generation of hybrid engines that manufacturers have committed to for next year. The meeting ended without a commitment to a return to V10 engines, though there are plans for more discussions.
“I wouldn’t be too vocal supporting the comeback of a V10 engine if I liked what I see from 2026,” Williams driver Carlos Sainz, Jr. said on Thursday. “Everyone seems to believe that (the 2026 rules) are not so good anymore.”
The last time V10s were standard on the F1 grid was 20 years ago and they're almost non-existent in modern road cars. The 24-year-old Piastri said he doesn't have “quite the same nostalgia” as older drivers and warned the debate could hurt F1's image.
“We just need to be a bit careful and not downplay what we're going to have for the next few years to come,” he said.
Ben Sulayem is up for re-election this year and has vocal critics. His deputy president for sport and one-time ally, Robert Reid, has resigned in protest at how the FIA is run.
F1 drivers are also pushing back on Ben Sulayem's efforts to police their behavior. Sainz defied an FIA rule against swearing on Thursday as he protested being fined for lateness.
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AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing
James Ellingworth, The Associated Press
