Ferrari tops first Bahrain practice

F1 Grand Prix, GP Bahrain, Bahrain International Circuit

Kimi Raikkonen was fastest in first the first practice session of the Bahrain Grand Prix weekend, putting Ferrari on top of the timesheet, ahead of his team mate Vettel. Valtteri Bottas was third fastest.

The session however was blistering hot, making it fairly irrelevant for the remainder of the weekend, as all other session will take place later in the day, featuring less sun and lower temperatures.

That was also a reason for Mercedes to take it easy this session, focusing on aerodynamic setup and most likely also running on higher fuel levels.

The fourth to sixth fastest times were set by Renault powered cars, with Sainz fastest of them, ahead of Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen in the Toro Rosso.

Fernando Alonso was 7th fastest for McLaren, a tenth ahead of Nasr and Kvyat with Massa closely behind completing the top 10 in the Williams.

Jenson Button meanwhile had a troubled session, hitting a battery problem on his second lap out on track. The team subsequently had to remove the floor of the car to get on top of the issue, eliminating Button from further taking part in that session.