Daniel Ricciardo plummets down timesheets in Bahrain Grand Prix practice

Daniel Ricciardo has been given the wake up call he knew was coming as drama struck on the first day of the Formula 1 season.

Daniel Ricciardo. Photo by Rudy Carezzevoli/Getty Images.

It was always going to be too good to be true, but the sight of Daniel Ricciardo sitting at the top of the timesheets at the Bahrain Grand Prix was still a shock nobody saw coming.

The Australian driver was the quickest in the opening practice session on Thursday night before drama ensued in the second practice session of the day.

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Mercedes locked up the top two spots on the time sheets in the second session while many were surprised to see world champions Red Bull struggling.

Hamilton’s best lap of one minute and 30.374 seconds was two-tenths clear of teammate George Russell with two-time champion Fernando Alonso third for Aston Martin.

Carlos Sainz was fourth for Ferrari while Aussie Oscar Piastri finished fifth.

Hamilton said after the session it was a “shock” to see his name at the top.

Daniel Ricciardo. Photo by Rudy Carezzevoli/Getty Images.

Hamilton warned his Mercedes team not to “get ahead of ourselves” while mystery builds ahead of Saturday morning’s qualifying session.

The seven-time world champion, who will leave Mercedes for Ferrari next year, said he felt much happier with the team’s new 2024 car, adding that there is more performance “to extract”.

“It’s a shock, but we’ll take it,” he said.

“It feels like a race car for once.”

Ricciardo plummets down time sheets

Visa Cash App RB driver Ricciardo was happy with his day at the office after plummeting down to 12th on the timesheets in the second session.

In a promising sign for the Aussie, Ricciardo was 0.3 seconds quicker than teammate Yuki Tsunoda in both sessions.

Ricciardo and Tsunoda ran hot in the opening session while running on soft tyres while all the other top drivers ran with the slower medium compound tyres.

“I’m staying optimistic because we know some areas to find more time,” Ricciardo said.

Daniel Ricciardo on track during practice ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Bahrain. Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images.

“I feel if we put it all together we can fight for Q3 tomorrow and points on Saturday. Let’s see if we can crack into the top 10.”

Visa Cash App RB racing director Alan Permane also saw some room for improvement.

“We are reasonably happy with where things are at,” he said.

“We’ll look closely at the changes we made to understand why we were possibly less competitive in FP2.

“Overall it was still a productive day which we completed all the testing we had on our program.”

Hamilton spots concerning Red Bull detail

Hamilton acknowledged that although Mercedes had outpaced defending champion Max Verstappen’s Red Bull in qualifying trim, the Dutchman’s long run pace in race set-up was still much faster.

“Overall, I’m feeling much happier with the car than last year,” he said.

Mercedes' British driver Lewis Hamilton. Photo by ANDREJ ISAKOVIC / AFP.

“We’ve made some good improvements and it feels much more like a race car and it’s a really good platform for us to build from

“We just need to keep our heads down and keep chasing.”

Cranky Verstappen sees the big picture

Verstappen, who complained throughout a windy day, wound up sixth.

It reflected his struggle for single lap pace, but he was consistent and fast on the long runs late in the day.

Cranky Verstappen

Three-time champion Verstappen was not fazed by finishing sixth on the opening day.

“It’s not too bad and I’m not worried by the gap to P1,” he said.

“It’s close and some people have opened up their engines for top speed, which we didn’t. But we focused on ourselves and have been trying to find the sweet spot in the set-up. When we get that, we won’t be far away!”

Hamilton said Mercedes would be in “in the mix” for a podium position along with Ferrari, Aston Martin and McLaren, but expected Verstappen to “veer off” into the distance in Saturday’s race, the first of an unprecedented 24-race season.

Hamilton has not won a race since 2021 in Saudi Arabia, where he claimed his record 103rd victory, a sequence of 45 races without a win.

He won 22 of the 45 races before that and believes that Mercedes can claim another title to which he said he wants to make a major contribution.

Russell said: “We’re not going to get carried away after one day of practice.” He added: “Our qualifying pace looks strong - we made some changes from the test and the improvement has exceeded our expectations, but ultimately our long run pace is what counts and Max looked comfortably quickest.

“I think we’ve got a fight on our hands with the Ferraris, McLarens and Aston Martin.”

Nico Hulkenberg was seventh for Haas ahead of Lance Stroll in the second Aston Martin, Charles Leclerc in the second Ferrari and Sergio Perez in the second Red Bull.

— with AFP