Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd
Oliver Goethe went quickest in an MP Motorsport one-two in Formula 2 free practice in Bahrain.
The Red Bull junior driver set a time of 1m47.789s, more than five seconds slower than the best time achieved during testing in March.
It was a slow start to the session, with only a handful of drivers setting times in the first third of practice. When drivers did head out, they opted for the harder compound of tyres.
Once lap times did start to be set, Goethe jumped to the top of the order with a 1m48.765s. He was quickly knocked off the top spot by Alex Dunne and Pepe Marti.
A late flurry of flying laps lowered the benchmark further. Goethe returned to the top of the standings, his time over half a second quicker than that set by Marti. The pair were separated by Goethe’s MP team-mate, Richard Verschoor, who was 0.222s slower than Goethe.
Victor Martins took fourth in his first official session in the colours of Williams ahead of Gabriele Mini, who had set the quickest time during in-season testing.
Jack Crawford was sixth, ahead of Dunne, Sami Meguetounif and Leonardo Fornaroli. Arvid Lindblad completed the top 10.
Free practice results
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
| 1 | Oliver Goethe | MP Motorsport | 1m47.789s | 14 | |
| 2 | Richard Verschoor | MP Motorsport | 1m48.011s | +0.222s | 14 |
| 3 | Pepe Marti | Campos Racing | 1m48.379s | +0.590s | 10 |
| 4 | Victor Martins | ART Grand Prix | 1m48.387s | +0.598s | 12 |
| 5 | Gabriele Mini | Prema Racing | 1m48.397s | +0.608s | 11 |
| 6 | Jak Crawford | DAMS | 1m48.442s | +0.653s | 13 |
| 7 | Alex Dunne | Rodin Motorsport | 1m48.452s | +0.663s | 13 |
| 8 | Sami Meguetounif | Trident | 1m48.481s | +0.692s | 13 |
| 9 | Leonardo Fornaroli | Invicta Racing | 1m48.545s | +0.756s | 12 |
| 10 | Arvid Lindblad | Campos Racing | 1m48.635s | +0.846s | 12 |
| 11 | Luke Browning | Hitech | 1m48.641s | +0.852s | 12 |
| 12 | Ritomo Miyata | ART Grand Prix | 1m48.804s | +1.015s | 12 |
| 13 | Sebastian Montoya | Prema Racing | 1m48.836s | +1.047s | 12 |
| 14 | Joshua Duerksen | AIX Racing | 1m48.954s | +1.165s | 19 |
| 15 | Roman Stanek | Invicta Racing | 1m49.079s | +1.290s | 13 |
| 16 | Rafael Villagomez | Van Amersfoort Racing | 1m49.148s | +1.359s | 14 |
| 17 | Dino Beganovic | Hitech | 1m49.227s | +1.438s | 11 |
| 18 | Amaury Cordeel | Rodin Motorsport | 1m49.308s | +1.519s | 13 |
| 19 | John Bennett | Van Amersfoort Racing | 1m49.415s | +1.626s | 13 |
| 20 | Kush Maini | DAMS | 1m49.524s | +1.735s | 11 |
| 21 | Max Esterson | Trident | 1m49.680s | +1.891s | 13 |
| 22 | Cian Shields | AIX Racing | 1m50.466s | +2.677s | 17 |