Whether it was Lando Norris in FP1 or Oscar Piastri in FP2, the top of the Bahrain Grand Prix timing sheets was decidedly all papaya on Friday.

But championship leader Norris has cautioned that practice times can be deceiving — and McLaren may still be on the back foot.

What did Lando Norris say about his McLaren in Bahrain?

McLaren’s MCL39 looks to be the class of the field thus far in the F1 2025 season, and in practice for the Bahrain Grand Prix so far, that looks to be holding true.

Lando Norris topped the timing charts in FP1 before teammate Oscar Piastri unseated him coming into FP2.

However, the Briton isn’t all pleased. He called the conditions this weekend “shocking” in a post-practice interview, pointing out both the heat and the wind as being the key factors making for a “dreadful” feeling behind the wheel.

“I think it was for everyone today, to be honest,” he admitted.

“Comparing [this] to a test, the test was a dream. This was horrendous.

“I mean, just a difficult day, readapting back to the reality of Bahrain, the difficulties of Bahrain, which make it tough — or make it exciting — on Sunday because the degradation is incredible today compared to the test.

“It’s kind of a weird day because everything feels dreadful, but I think relatively our pace was still in a reasonable place.”

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But when Norris was asked if it was a little easier to handle the heat from the top of the leaderboard, the McLaren driver absolutely disagreed.

“I just don’t think they turned up,” he said of the competition.

“Everyone just looks at the time sheets. They have no idea about the information on who turns up, who doesn’t.

“It’s like three-and-a-half, four tenths around here. So that puts us immediately back in the same position as the Mercedes, so at the minute I wouldn’t say we’re any quicker.”

Of course, Norris does have a point — it’s impossible to know where the competition stands until qualifying and the race, particularly as teams may all be opting for different pre-race preparation strategies.

But from what we’ve seen so far this season, the McLarens are better able to handle tyre degradation than the competition, which is certain to come in handy when it comes time to push hard in the race itself, with hot conditions and a rough track surface conspiring against the rubber.

Read next: Our bold predictions for the Bahrain Grand Prix