Ferrari ahead in first practice at Bahrain

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F1 Grand Prix, GP Bahrain, Bahrain International Circuitbh

Sebastian Vettel was comfortably fastest in the first session of the Bahrain Grand Prix weekend. He topped the Red Bull Racing duo led by Daniel Ricciardo. Force India and Williams battled it out for the next 4 positions on the timesheet.

A considerably upgraded Force India appeared well in the mix as Perez ended the session fourth fastest, ahead of both Williams and his own team mate.

Fernando Alonso set the 8th fastest time in the McLaren Honda, ahead of Romain Grosjean for Haas.

Relative speed is likely to change further into the weekend as the track improved massively throughout the session while dust was cleaned off due to running. Mercedes, who opted to do their soft tyre running early on in the session, were indeed initially quickest, but then rapidly overhauled as they focused on tyre evaluation.

For Kimi Raikkonen, the news was less positive, as his car came to a halt after just 6 laps. Following a few installation laps, he came to a halt before it really started, parking his car at Turn 10 with an overheated turbo.

Several others also had trouble with the heat that reached 40°, as Stoffel Vandoorne's car also stopped early with a suspected ERS issue. Felipe Massa had a spin following a "brake issue". At Renault, Jolyon Palmer struggled with intermittent MGU-K issues while team mate Nico Hulkenberg wasn't entirely happy with the balance of his car.

Running continues at 18:00 local time in FP2.

Results

Pos.No.DriverCarTimeGapLaps
15Sebastian VettelFerrari1:32.697-21
23Daniel RicciardoRed Bull Racing Tag Heuer1:33.097+0.400s22
333Max VerstappenRed Bull Racing Tag Heuer1:33.566+0.869s23
411Sergio PerezForce India Mercedes1:34.095+1.398s22
519Felipe MassaWilliams Mercedes1:34.246+1.549s24
618Lance StrollWilliams Mercedes1:34.322+1.625s25
731Esteban OconForce India Mercedes1:34.332+1.635s23
814Fernando AlonsoMcLaren Honda1:34.372+1.675s14
98Romain GrosjeanHaas Ferrari1:34.564+1.867s21
1044Lewis HamiltonMercedes1:34.636+1.939s28
1126Daniil KvyatToro Rosso1:34.838+2.141s13
1227Nico HulkenbergRenault1:34.927+2.230s13
132Stoffel VandoorneMcLaren Honda1:34.997+2.300s10
1477Valtteri BottasMercedes1:35.002+2.305s27
1530Jolyon PalmerRenault1:35.068+2.371s19
1620Kevin MagnussenHaas Ferrari1:35.579+2.882s21
179Marcus EricssonSauber Ferrari1:35.888+3.191s24
1894Pascal WehrleinSauber Ferrari1:35.959+3.262s23
1955Carlos SainzToro Rosso1:36.079+3.382s16
207Kimi RäikkönenFerrari1:42.333+9.636s6