Hamilton leads Mercedes in the second free practice in Bahrain.

Lewis Hamilton, the British driver of the Mercedes AMG F1 W15, dominated the second practice session for the first race of the 2024 Formula 1 World Championship in Bahrain. Hamilton set the fastest time of 1:30.374s during the evening practice, with his teammate George Russell close behind, two tenths of a second adrift. Fernando Alonso of Aston Martin secured third place, while Carlos Sainz led the Ferrari team in fourth. McLaren’s Oscar Piastri completed the top five. However, McLaren’s Lando Norris struggled and ended up at the bottom of the time sheets, over two seconds off Hamilton’s pace. Current world champion Max Verstappen finished in sixth place, nearly half a second behind Hamilton. Verstappen’s teammate Sergio Perez finished in 10th place, with Nico Hulkenberg, Lance Stroll, and Charles Leclerc separating the two Red Bull drivers. Williams’ Alex Albon was the last driver within a second of Hamilton’s time, followed by Logan Sargeant in 13th place. The slowest Red Bull car belonged to Yuki Tsunoda, while Pierre Gasly and Alpine’s Esteban Ocon struggled in 16th and 18th place, respectively. Sauber also appeared to be lacking pace.