Fernando Alonso dazzles F1 as he ends Friday practice quickest in the Aston Martin

Fernando Alonso dazzled under the lights to set the best time for Aston Martin ahead of Red Bull's defending double world champion Max Verstappen in Friday evening's second practice at the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix.

The 41-year-old Spaniard, driving with the enthusiasm of a man half his age, clocked a best lap in 1:30.907 to outpace the Dutchman by 0.169 seconds.

Sergio Perez was third in the second Red Bull, just 0.002 seconds adrift of his teammate, but six-tenths clear of Ferrari's Charles Leclerc, ahead of Nico Hulkenberg of Haas and Lance Stroll in the second Aston Martin.

Pierre Gasly was seventh in his first day with the Alpine team ahead of seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes, Lando Norris of McLaren and Zhou Guanyu of Alfa Romeo.

FP2 CLASSIFICATION Friday belongs to Fernando Alonso ??#BahrainGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/ROGUJZ1ZjS

An improved car

Alonso, in his first outing with Aston Martin after moving from Alpine to replace retired four-time champion Sebastian Vettel, confirmed the widely-held paddock view that his new team has a much-improved car and will be a threat to the established top teams.

The second 'sunset' session began in cooler conditions than those for opening practice, when Perez topped the times for Red Bull, the floodlights blazing as Stroll led the way out of the pitlane in his Aston Martin. 

The air temperature had fallen from 25 degrees to 22, but more significantly the track had dropped from 40 to 27, allowing improved tyre performance and a general use of soft slick tyres. 

Esteban Ocon set the early pace for Alpine before the Ferrari duo took over, Leclerc displacing Sainz on top with a lap in 1:31.843 after six minutes, all of them exceeding Perez's earlier pace.  

Hamilton, on