A few taps of the keys and Lance Stroll is down into fifth.

Nico Hulkenberg, Chalres Leclerc and Sergio Perez have all been gazumped by Stroll's Aston Martin team-mate Fernando Alonso. The 41-year-old hits a 1:30.907 on the red soft tyres to go top of the shops.

Lance Stroll leads the field.

The Canadian goes quickest with a 1:31.450 on the soft rubber.

Over in the pit lane... "I almost just crashed in the pit lane," Lando Norris tells his McLaren crew. The Alpha Tauri of Nyck de Vries was waved out into the path of the Briton at the wrong moment.

Kevin Magnussen takes his Haas up to the heights of third on the leaderboard with a 1:32.110 on those soft tyres.

Lance Stroll takes a purple medal in the first sector. This laps looks decent from the Aston Martin...

Aston Martin team principal Mike Krack apparently likes to stand up on the pit wall, which is the strategy I'm going for this weekend to type this live text. Different sensation for sure.

Quiet out on track as teams get ready for their second runs. Ferrari occupy the top two spots with 37 minutes of the session to go.

The headache-inducing bouncing of 2022 is looks to be a thing of the past for Mercedes, so Lewis Hamilton is rubbing shoulders in the top three in the W14.

The seven-time world champion has moved up into third place with a 1:32.272, still on the soft tyres, to push the Alpine of Pierre Gasly down into fourth spot.

World champion Max Verstappen is not feeling as comfortable in the RB19 as he did in testing, as the Dutchman radios his Red Bull engineer to say the car is jumping around a bit. The Dutchman is currently trying on the medium tyres for size.

1. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) - 1:31.843 (soft)

2. Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) +0.113 (soft)

3. Pierre Gasly (Alpine) +0.525 (soft)

4. Esteban Ocon (Alpine) +0.572 (soft)

5. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) +0.573 (soft)

In the battle between former childhood buddies Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly...

Former Alpha Tauri man Gasly is sitting one place above Ocon in third on time sheets with a time of 1:32.386 on softs.

Meanwhile, Oscar Piastri is told to box this lap by his McLaren pit wall with a flat-spotted front tyre.

Are we racing already?

Oscar Piastri and Yuki Tsunoda are dragging each other down into Turn One when suddenly, an Aston Martin driven by Lance Stroll pops up into the path of Piastri's McLaren. Disaster averted thanks to some late braking.

We're into the 1:31s thanks Carlos Sainz.

Next to cross the line is his Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc, who strains a few extra drops of pace out of the SF-23 to lead the field with a 1:31.843 on the softs.

Uh-oh. Leclerc is on the team radio, saying he has a probably with the clutch.

Esteban Ocon places his Alpine top of the board with a 1:32.415 on some soft rubber, but right behind him is the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz, also on soft tyres, who clocks a new quickest time just over a tenth faster than Frenchman Ocon.

Lance Stroll and Valtteri Bottas in the Alfa Romeo have put down early times in the 1:33s. Carlos Sainz and Esteban Ocon are fighting it out to take the quickest time with five minutes of the session gone.

We didn't see much of Alpine during the opening session but Esteban Ocon is out early doors on a set of soft tyres. The pink livery is flying around the track in all its glory.

Lance Stroll made sure he was at the front of the queue to get out of the pit lane for the start of second practice. The Aston Martin man needs those laps.

The sun is setting in Bahrain so switch on the floodlights.

Qualifying will be taking place at this time on Saturday. Temperatures have cooled now out on track.

Image source, PA Media

The porpoising issues at Mercedes last season were so bad that Lewis Hamilton was left in agony following his fourth-placed finish at Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku.

There are still challenges for the team to overcome, says Hamilton, but overall the seven-time world champion is confident the team can continue to improve.

He added: "On a positive note, not having bouncing is a huge plus and trying to understand what the problems were while having bouncing made it difficult to work out what those are so we don't have that now and we can focus on pure performance.

"This still is a multi-championship winning team and group of people.

"Hopefully those behind will continue to apply pressure (to Red Bull). Ferrari have a decent package, Aston have a decent package and we are hunting too.

"I don't think Max will slip up. He is a world champion and I wouldn't question his determination and focus."

Image source, George Russell Twitter

George Russell is going back to his roots for his 2023 race helmet.

The Mercedes man has chosen to wear a green lid this year, which celebrates the first helmet design he wore when racing back in 2006.

"It's definitely very bold, very bright," said Russell. "I think it looks very aggressive."

He added: "It was the colour my brother used to race with and it's the colour I had as my helmet for a number of years when I was a kid."

Image source, EPA

The odds of either George Russell or Lewis Hamilton bringing home the W14 in first place on Sunday are not that favourable, according to 25-year-old Russell.

"It is going to be a challenging weekend if we want to fight for victory," said Russell.

"Red Bull are in a bit of a league of their own in Bahrain this weekend but there will be a nice fight for second place probably with Ferrari and Aston Martin."

It's not all doom and gloom for the Silver Arrows though.

"There is no reason why we can't fight as the season hots up," Russell added.

"I am not going to sit here and say we are going to find that lap-time deficit to Red Bull. But we are definitely in a more comfortable place than on Friday night."

Charles Leclerc in his Ferrari was polesitter and race winner at the Bahrain Grand Prix in 2022, while Red Bull haven't scored a victory in Sakhir since Sebastian Vettel took back-to-back wins in 2012 and 2013.

Can anyone take the lap record away from Pedro de la Rosa that was set in 2005 for McLaren?

Image source, BBC Sport

A reminder of the tyres on offer to teams for the season opener this weekend.

Pirelli has expanded its range of compounds to six for the new campaign, with the C1 hard tyre the brand new selection for 2023.

Last year's C1 tyre has now become this season's hardest option, the C0.

Image source, Pirelli Motorsport Twitter