The world champion team Mercedes is struggling with the consequences of the new design regulations.

Red Bull appear to be set for the moment, while there appears to be an interesting move in store for Schumacher fans.

Performance impressions after the second practice session for the Bahrain Grand Prix (Sunday 4:00 p.m. CET in the FAZ live ticker for Formula 1 and on Sky):

red bull

Anno Hecker

Responsible editor for sports.

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As expected, the team from the Austrian shower manufacturer shot straight to the top.

And with the world champion.

Max Verstappen turned the fastest lap on Friday evening and thus confirmed the best time that he had achieved in the last test drives last weekend, also in Bahrain.

His teammate Sergio Perez (Mexico) finished seventh, one second behind.

This was due to the slightly different program of the two drivers, but also illustrates the well-known distance between the two: the world champion is usually a few tenths of a second ahead.

"Ferrari is putting a lot of pressure on, it's exciting," said Verstappen, "none of us were yet in qualifying mode with the engines, but it seems to have narrowed in the field, that's what we wanted."

Ferrari

The team transmitted the consistently fast performance of the Scuderia during the two test drives in Barcelona and Bahrain on Friday.

Charles Leclerc needed only 0.087 seconds more than champion Verstappen on his fastest lap.

Ferrari has apparently managed to return to the top group.

The engine disaster seems to have been overcome, and the F75 has succeeded from front to rear.

Carlos Sainz was not able to follow Leclerc, missing half a second, but third place underscores Ferrari's claim to appear halfway together at the front.

Mercedes

Where is the world champion?

Fourth, but not with chief driver Lewis Hamilton.

The novice in the team, apart from the assignment in Bahrain 2020, has made the first small race.

George Russell ended up as far behind as feared, 0.593 seconds behind, Hamilton only in ninth place, one second behind Verstappen.

The reason was easy to see.

His car hops like no other on the grades.

This is the result of the ground effect, the use of which was forbidden for 40 years.

The air is accelerated under the car through channels in the underbody and creates a suction effect.

He brings the Mercedes to its knees more than anyone else, until the chassis touches down, the current breaks off, the car jumps up again and the process repeats itself.

It could be turned off by increasing the ground clearance or making cuts in the underbody.

But that costs lap time.

Hamilton didn't mince his words: "This year we are facing much bigger problems than last year." All attempts to improve something have so far brought no improvement.

"If they get the problem under control," says Red Bull's head of sport Helmut Marko, "they will immediately be a few tenths of a second faster."

The midfield

Renault emerged fifth with two-time world champion Fernando Alons, followed by the fastest Alfa Romeo with Valtteri Bottas at the wheel.

The pace of the Finn is well known.

Lewis Hamilton didn't let him develop at Mercedes for five years, but Bottas always managed brilliant tours under Hamilton's nose.

Whether the positioning in sixth place will last?

"The potential is there, of course," said Bottas.