Following some rain on Thursday, conditions for free practice at the Bahrain International Circuit were relatively cool and windy, with track temperatures dropping as FP2 took place in the evening: at the same time as qualifying and the race. The teams concentrated the majority of their set-up and tyre work into the second session, during which the race lap record established in 2005 was broken.

Paul Hembery, Pirelli motorsport director: "An indication of how much the lap times have generally improved from last year comes from the fact that the slowest time in FP1 this afternoon would have been the fastest FP1 time last year. Not only that but the race lap record was already broken in FP2. Conditions during FP2 are expected to be representative of qualifying and the race, so the teams have gathered plenty of data for what is looking like a race that will feature two, possibly three, pit stops for most competitors. During FP2 we encountered a very small amount of graining, in the cool conditions with a high fuel load. The low working range supersoft appears to have a pace advantage of about one second over the soft, helped by the cool temperatures."

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