Formula 1: Ferrari appear to be frontrunners following Bahrain practice

After a disastrous Australian Grand Prix to open up the 2019 Formula 1 season, Ferrari seem to be frontrunners once again following the first two practice sessions for the Bahrain Grand Prix.

Scuderia Ferrari opened up the 2019 Formula 1 season with an Australian Grand Prix to forget. Their main championship rivals, Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport, secured a 1-2 finish, as Valtteri Bottas dominated and won the race while Lewis Hamilton finished behind him in second place.

Ferrari, meanwhile, even lost out on the chance to secure a podium finish at one of their strongest tracks in recent history, as Aston Martin Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen finished the race in third place in what was the team’s first race as a Honda-powered team. Honda had not earned a podium finish in Formula 1 since Rubens Barrichello drove for Honda and finished in third in the 2008 British Grand Prix.

Meanwhile, Ferrari teammates Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc finished in a disappointing fourth and fifth place to conclude what was simply a poorly managed final stage of the 58-lap race around the 16-turn, 3.296-mile (5.304-kilometer) Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit road course in Albert Park, Melbourne, Australia by the team.

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But following the first two practice sessions for the Bahrain Grand Prix, Ferrari appear to be back to being the frontrunners that they are fully capable of being and have demonstrated that they can be over the past few seasons, namely the last two.

Leclerc topped the speed chart in the first practice session by recording a top lap time of 90.354 seconds (133.993 miles per hour) around the 15-turn, 3.363-mile (5.412-kilometer) Bahrain International Circuit road course in Sakhir, Bahrain. Vettel finished in second place by recording a top lap time of 90.617 seconds (133.604 miles per hour), which was just 0.263 seconds (0.389 miles per hour) slower than that of his teammate.

Meanwhile, Bottas finished in third place, and he finished 0.711 seconds (1.040 miles per hour) behind Vettel and 0.974 seconds (1.429 miles per hour) behind Leclerc by recording a top lap time of 91.328 seconds (132.564 miles per hour).

Vettel then topped the speed chart in the second practice session by recording a top lap time of 88.846 seconds (136.267 miles per hour). Leclerc finished in second place by recording a top lap time of 88.881 seconds (136.214 miles per hour), which was only 0.035 seconds (0.053 miles per hour) slower than that of his teammate.

Meanwhile, Hamilton finished in third place behind the Ferrari teammates, and he finished 0.568 seconds (0.865 miles per hour) behind Leclerc and 0.603 seconds (0.918 miles per hour) behind Vettel by recording a top lap time of 89.449 seconds (135.349 miles per hour).

The Bahrain Grand Prix is a race that Ferrari have won in each of the last two seasons, as Vettel won it in both of these years, so the fact that the Maranello-based team have been as strong as they have been early on in the weekend should not be shocking to the point where it elevates them to the level of championship favorites ahead of five-time reigning driver and constructor champions Mercedes, especially not after Red Bull Racing joined the Silver Arrows in outclassing them in the season opener as well.

That said, this early strength is great sign for the Scuderia in that they have no need to be in panic mode, which it looked like they were already in even before the Australian Grand Prix ended, and that they can still compete as frontrunners. But whether or not this continues to be the case throughout the remainder of this weekend and throughout the remainder of the season naturally remains to be seen.

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The third and final practice session for the Bahrain Grand Prix is scheduled to air on ESPN2 beginning later this morning at 7:55 a.m. ET, and the qualifying session for the race is scheduled to air three hours later on ESPN2 at 10:55 a.m. ET. The race itself, which is the second of 21 races on the 2019 Formula 1 schedule, is scheduled to air live on ESPN2 tomorrow beginning at 11:00 a.m. ET.

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