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Q2 is over and the following drivers are eliminated: Jack Doohan, Isack Hadjar, Nico Hulkenberg, Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon.
Sainz goes sixth which knocks Hadjar out. Hulkenberg can only manage 13th. Doohan takes 11th off Hadjar.
Great lap by Gasly! He goes third, Vertappen only manages seventh.
Tsunoda takes sixth, which becomes seventh as Hamilton improves his time. Hadjar narrowly fails to beat Tsunoda, however.
Antonelli jumps up to third, Russell then takes it off him.
Currently in the drop zone: Max Verstappen, Isack Hadjar, Esteban Ocon (eliminated as he will not run again), Fernando Alonso and Yuki Tsunoda.
Verstappen was on a strong lap but pitted, so Red Bull must be confident in their car’s pace unless they’ve made a strange mistake like under-fuelling the car. He radioed them at the end of the lap to confirm they wanted him to pit. Tsunoda hasn’t done a time either so Red Bull therefore go into the last knockings of this session again needing both drivers to pull out a time to ensure they reach the next phase.
Mercedes are under investigation for sending their cars out of the garage before the session resumption time was announced. They may get a sporting penalty for that if race control believe they could have gained an advantage with their positioning.
Verstappen left the pits behind Piastri but makes a point of passing the McLaren into turn five. He’s now catching the other McLaren of Norris.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli leads the drivers out as Q2 resumes with 11 minutes left on the calendar. With the way the Safety Car delta time rules are these days, it takes a while to get every car on the track, and another red flag could seriously throw a spanner in the works.
Ocon has crashed and we’ve got a red flag. “I’m okay,” he reports.
Q2 has begun.
Q1 is over and the following drivers are eliminated: Alexander Albon, Liam Lawson, Gabriel Bortoleto, Lance Stroll and Oliver Bearman.
Tsunoda makes it through by three tenths of a second. Hulkenberg also scrapes into the next phase of qualifying.
Verstappen goes safe with a lap for third. Tsunoda gets up to 11th so he may have escaped the bottom five.
Hamilton goes up to second, Stroll is out in 16th and Bearman in 17th.
Bortoleto makes it up to 12th, though. Hadjar does a great lap for fifth. Vertappen begins a crucial lap and has to make a correction in turn two.
Bearman only improves to 13th so he looks potentially vulnerable. Bortoleto not great in the first sector.
Hulkenberg and Ocon both improved so the drop zone is now Lance Stroll, Isack Hadjar, Gabriel Bortoleto, Max Verstappen and Yuki Tsunoda.
Currently in the drop zone: Gabriel Bortoleto, Nico Hulkenberg, Max Verstappen, Esteban Ocon and Yuki Tsunoda.
The Mercedes drivers set their first times: Antonelli goes fourth, two places ahead of Russell.
Lando Norris lowers the best time to a 1’31.107 so he is 0.285s ahead of Oscar Piastri.
It gets worse for Red Bull: Tsunoda’s first lap time has been deleted because he exceeded track limits at turn three.
Verstappen goes deep into the final corner and goes off, he pits. Tsunoda posts a 1’32.096 which Jack Doohan immediately beats.
Alonso sets a 1’32.362, putting him 0.448s ahead of Hulkenberg.
Verstappen is the fourth driver to join the track, he’s on a set of softs. Tsunoda follows him out on the same compound.
Q1 is go: Hulkenberg and the Aston Martin drivers head out first.
Out in Q1 last weekend: Gabriel Bortoleto, Jack Doohan, Hulkenberg, Ocon and Stroll.
Underlining that point, Gasly was actually among the bottom five drivers in practice who therefore look most at risk of going out in Q1. These were: Gasly, Tsunoda, Esteban Ocon, Lance Stroll and Nico Hulkenberg.
If Tsunoda doesn’t make it through, that could open up an opportunity for another of the midfield drivers to reach Q3. The Racing Bulls and Williams drivers look like strong candidates. Pierre Gasly has shown some pace in Alpine, though usually in the hotter conditions, and it remains to be seen whether he can be competitive in the cooler night sessions.
Verstappen ended final practice behind Isack Hadjar in the Racing Bulls, so Red Bull clearly haven’t revealed their true potential yet. However their newest driver struggled badly in second practice. Yuki Tsunoda was slowest of all after abandoning both his qualifying simulation laps. Are Red Bull at risk of losing a driver in Q1 again?
McLaren have led the way in practice so far, topping all three sessions and lapping half a second faster than anyone else. But of course they did the same at Suzuka a week ago – and headed Q1 and Q2 – only for Max Verstappen to beat them to pole position.
Qualifying for the 2025 Bahrain Grand Prix is coming up next.
2025 Bahrain Grand Prix
- Live: 2025 Bahrain Grand Prix qualifying
- McLaren comfortably quickest, Tsunoda last for Red Bull in final practice
- As it happened: 2025 Bahrain Grand Prix third practice
- McLaren’s huge lead in practice shows rivals haven’t turned up engines – Norris
- Ferrari’s upgrade worked says Hamilton but Leclerc fears they aren’t fast enough