Oscar Piastri was determined not to get too carried away but looks in the mood to become the first Formula One driver to win two grand prix in 2025 after setting out his stall as the quickest driver in practice at the Bahrain GP.
The Australian, who's already won in China this year and looked the fastest man on the circuit when finishing third in Japan last week, edged out his teammate Lando Norris in Friday's key second practice session at the Sakhir circuit as McLaren again looked the team they all have to beat.
Piastri was 10th in the first session as Norris led the timesheets, but in the evening conditions more representative of Sunday's race, the Australian was electric, edging out Norris by 0.154 seconds while no other driver could get within half-a-second of his time. George Russell was third fastest in his Mercedes, 0.527 behind.
Norris's first-session best lap in the blazing afternoon heat was one minute 33.204 seconds, whereas Piastri went round in 1:30.505 in the evening and proclaimed that he felt the circuit suited the McLaren's strengths.
"It being a little bit more difficult on tyres and a bit warmer probably will be more friendly for us than others," he said, although he was keen to stress: "It doesn't take much to go wrong for us to not be at the front."
Norris (62 points) lead the championship standings from the masterful Japan winner Max Verstappen (61) and Piastri (49) with all three having enjoyed a win apiece so far.
A McLaren win may look on the cards but Norris was circumspect, saying the low-speed corners on the circuit could work against their cars.
"We still know that's one of our weaker areas, so I'm not expecting bad things, I'm just expecting a trickier weekend than the last few," said Norris.
Verstappen and Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton finished seventh and eighth, respectively.
Jack Doohan, in his Alpine, finished 14th fastest in 1:31.788, ahead of his 17th placed teammate Pierre Gasly (1:31.947)
The Australian, who's had a rocky start to his season with the French team, muts be sick of hearing the rumours about Franco Colapinto being lined up to take his place.
But team boss Oliver Oakes said of Alpine's rookie on the eve of racing: "Honestly Jack's just keeping his head down, doing his job, focusing on himself.
"Obviously there is a lot of noise out there about Franco, I think we saw that last weekend with the Red Bull car as well, so I think we're just quite happy to see him do a good job at the moment."
