McLaren were streets ahead of the pack in second practice at the Bahrain Grand Prix on Friday leaving Max Verstappen lamenting his "too slow" Red Bull.

Oscar Piastri posted a quickest lap of 1min 30.505s with his teammate Lando Norris only a tenth of a second adrift.

Mercedes' George Russell took third, albeit over five tenths of a second back in an ominous display of force by McLaren at a track where the Bahraini-backed team have yet to win in 21 visits.

Verstappen, who moved to within one point of championship leader Norris after his win in Japan last weekend, struggled to make any significant impact, the four-time world champion trailing in seventh, close to one second back.

"We're just too slow basically every lap, and it was honestly not a lot of fun out there in the long run," lamented the Dutchman.

"The gap was quite massive," he added.

To add insult to injury immediately in front of Verstappen were two rookies - Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli and........

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