Summary

  • Fernando Alonso tops second practice for season-opener in Bahrain

  • Alonso making debut for new team Aston Martin

  • Red Bull's Sergio Perez earlier topped first practice and finished third in FP2 behind team-mate Max Verstappen

  • Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton P8 and George Russell P13

  • World champion Verstappen and his Red Bull team set pre-season testing pace

  • Ferrari, Mercedes and Aston Martin appear best of the rest based on testing times

  • Use audio icon at top of the page to listen to BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra commentary

  • Get involved via #bbcf1

Live Reporting

Lorraine McKenna

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  2. Lance Stroll is on the move. Will the Canadian's injured wrist hold up? We'll have to wait and see.

    The briefest of flashes of a yellow flag in sector one but it's quickly cleared and we're green again.

  3. That's more like it, McLaren will be thinking.

    Rookie Oscar Piastri is another soft runner and places his MCL60 into fourth place on the leaderboard in the 1:34s. The Australian takes his spot sandwich between old hands Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton.

  4. Stroll's Aston repaired and set to hit the track

    Rosanna Tennant
    5 Live F1 reporter

    Stroll is still in the pits and the team have said it's ignition problems. I think they were changing a spark plug. Tyres have gone on. They've managed to get the car fixed and, hopefully, we'll see the car out on track shortly.

  5. Red Bull have gone all soft and placed Max Verstappen on some velvety tyres too. The two-time world champion can't beat the time set by his team-mate Sergio Perez a few moments ago, but he does move up to second on the time sheets with a 1:33.375.

    Over at Alfa Romeo, Zhou Guanyu has peddle problems and tells his pit wall to take a look.

  6. Speaking of Red Bull, Sergio Perez has switched to the soft tyres for his latest runs. The Mexican improves on his earlier top time to bank a new quickest marker of 1:32.758.

  7. Which team looks the quickest?

    Andrew Benson
    BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer in Bahrain

    Quick straw poll among paddock luminaries before first session suggests that Red Bull looked in testing to be at least 0.3secs ahead of Ferrari, Mercedes next and Aston Martin close behind. Alfa Romeo also close to Aston with some mystery re Alpine.

    Sergio PerezReuters

  8. The wait continues for Lance Stroll to join the rest of his 2023 classmates.

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  9. Ferrari wing flexing

    Andrew Benson
    BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer

    That can't be good. That's not just flexing on the left-to-right axis, you could see it moving front to back at the same time. They had a problem with a wing in testing that forced them to take it off and I'm speculating as to whether it's the same wing. Either way it's another rear wing problem and they are going to have to fix that.

  10. Ah. There is a reason Lance Stroll isn't moving: his car has an issue.

  11. More work going on over at McLaren as Lando Norris' mirrors are being fixed in the garage. Lance Stroll, meanwhile, is waiting patiently in the Aston Martin pen to be released for some much-needed Bahrain running.

  12. Lewis Hamilton and Kevin Magnussen slipped into the top five as I was typing the previous entry. Haas driver Magnussen and team-mate Nico Hulkenberg are the only two drivers zipping around the Bahrain track on a set of the soft C3 red tyres.

  13. Top five

    1. Sergio Perez (Red Bull) - 1:34.343 (medium)

    2. Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) +0.524 (medium)

    3. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) +0.821 (medium)

    4. Kevin Magnussen (Haas) +1.077 (soft)

    5. Max Verstappen (Red Bull) +1.086 (medium)

  14. The time sheets have moved into the 1:34s for the top two runners but Fernando Alonso is no longer top dog. The Aston Martin driver is pushed down into second by the Red Bull of Sergio Perez, who clocks a time +0.524secs quicker than the two-time world champion on the yellow medium rubber.

  15. A touch of worry in the voice of American driver Logan Sargeant. "I could smell something burning on the first lap," he tells his Williams engineers.

  16. Veteran coming through

    No early retirement for Fernando Alonso.

    The Spanish two-time world champion is heading into his 20th F1 season this year and was already making his debut for Minardi at the Australian Grand Prix in 2001 before McLaren's Oscar Piastri had even made his entrance into the world a month later.

    Alonso is top of the very early time sheets with a 1:35.048 on the medium tyres.

    Fernando AlonsoGetty Images

  17. New McLaren team principal Andrea Stella is watching on from the pit wall as Oscar Piastri brings the car home safely. The papaya team need a boost of fortunes after a rough pre-season testing outing.

  18. Jack Nicholls
    BBC Radio 5 Live F1 commentator

    We saw a lot of snaps through turns six and seven last year. It can be quite gusty there.

  19. Oscar Piastri gets lost at the exit of Turn Seven. "Is the car OK?" asks his engineer. Seems the Australian rookie has avoided disaster in the opening moments of the session. Carry on your lap.

  20. Carlos Sainz has found a few niggles in the Ferrari already. "I have quite a lot of understeer," the Spaniard tells his pit wall over the team radio.