The 15th round of the 2020 FIA Formula 1 World Championship began with practice on Friday at Bahrain International Circuit as teams prepared for Sunday’s Bahrain Grand Prix. Two 90-minute sessions – FP1 and FP2 – on the 5.412-kilometer (3.363-mile), 15-turn circuit made up Friday’s agenda. FP1 held the threat of rain following earlier showers in the day but conditions remained dry for the afternoon session. FP2’s evening track action, hosted under the floodlights, proved a more representative session for the grid ahead of qualifying and the race, with conditions mostly clear overhead. Grosjean and Magnussen started their opening runs in FP1 on Pirelli’s 2021-specification C3 test tires – each team receiving two sets to utilize per car across FP1 and FP2. They followed this up with a run on a new set of the Pirelli P Zero Red softs, then a baseline on the Yellow mediums before finishing off on a high-fuel stint. Grosjean set his fastest lap of the session on the softs – the Frenchman banking a 1:30.832 to place 14th. Magnussen finished one place behind his teammate on the timesheet in 15th – courtesy of a 1:30.854 set on the medium compound. FP2 commenced with Grosjean and Magnussen sampling their second set of the 2021 C3 test tires on an eight-lap wake-up run before switching over to this year’s medium rubber for another baseline outing. Neither driver set a flying lap on the soft tires – their qualifying simulation window interrupted by two red flag stops – one for a crash by Red Bull Racing’s Alexander Albon, the second for a stray dog on the circuit. Magnussen finished the session 16th – the Dane setting a best lap of 1:30.849. Grosjean’s fastest tour of 1:31.119 placed him 19th overall. Haas F1 Team ran a total of 112 laps on Friday across FP1 and FP2 – 56 each by Grosjean and Magnussen. |