FRIDAY SUMMARY
* Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton was fastest in both sessions: in FP1 on the P Zero Yellow medium tyre and then in FP2 on the Red soft tyre (this year in the C4 compound for Bahrain).
During both sessions, drivers also had the chance to try out Pirelli’s 2021 tyres, in C3 compound. * It was compulsory to run the new tyres in FP2 (for a minimum run of six laps) while teams also had the option to run them in FP1 if they wished. All the drivers ran them in both sessions.
* The tyre gap is not easy to define because today’s running was somewhat influenced by the 2021 tyre tests and a red flag stoppage. However, the estimated gap is currently around 0.6 seconds between hard and medium, with the same difference between medium and soft.
* The FP1 session was more representative than usual, with temperatures in both sessions being quite similar.

MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF CAR RACING
“In comparison to last season, this was a more aggressive nomination by bringing the compounds in the middle of the range to Bahrain, with the softest choice being the C4 compound this year. It was quite a busy couple of sessions today, with each car running two sets of our 2021 tyres in C3 compound during both FP1 and FP2, allowing both us and the teams to collect plenty of data on new and used examples of these tyres. Now we have plenty of information to analyse before trying these 2021 tyres again in Abu Dhabi. Coming back to Bahrain this weekend, compared to the usual calendar slot earlier in the year, we had quite similar conditions in FP1 and FP2: with track temperatures around 26 degrees in both sessions. This gave teams the chance to test the tyres in conditions more similar to the race, and perhaps concentrate more on race pace. All the tyres performed in line with expectations today, considering also that the track was quite slippery. The soft compound showed no graining, but as is usual in Bahrain, it will be particularly crucial to manage the rear tyres to prevent them overheating.”

TOP 3 TIMES
FP1
Hamilton	1m29.033s	MEDIUM C3 NEW
Bottas		1m29.482s	MEDIUM C3 NEW
Perez		1m30.000s	SOFT C4 NEW

FP2
Hamilton	1m28.971s	SOFT C4 NEW
Verstappen	1m29.318s	MEDIUM C3 NEW
Bottas		1m29.336s	SOFT C4 NEW

BEST TIME BY COMPOUND
FP1
HARD C2		Albon		1m30.473s
MEDIUM C3	Hamilton	1m29.033s
SOFT C4		Perez		1m30.000s

FP2
HARD C2		Norris		1m31.158s
MEDIUM C3	Verstappen	1m29.318s
SOFT C4		Hamilton	1m28.971s

MOST LAPS BY COMPOUND SO FAR
COMPOUND	DRIVER		LAPS
HARD C2		Latifi		20
MEDIUM C3	Kvyat		20
SOFT C4		Leclerc		18

TYRE STATISTICS OF THE DAY
 			HARD	MEDIUM	SOFT
Kms driven*		708	1661	2083
Sets used overall**	10	24	45

The above number gives the total amount of kilometres
driven in FP1 and FP2 today, all drivers combined.
** Per compound, all drivers combined.