Bahrain GP: first practice, first impressions

The Mercedes duo claimed the first two spots of the time sheets again. Is anyone surprised? A few braking mistakes did not prevent Lewis Hamilton from being 0.231 faster than his teammate Nico Rosberg who did a lap of 1:37.733.

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1 W05

Photo by: XPB Images

Teams are getting used to new rules, but some polishing is still needed - in today's first practice, Fernando Alonso got 3 medium and 1 soft tire fitted to his F14T. But nevertheless Fernando was able to show third fastest time just 0.451 slower than the Mercedes drivers.

Force India should be proud of Nico Hulkenberg, who showed great pace and secured 4th row. Sergio Perez sits in P9.

Jenson Button was just about half a second slower than the German driver and did a lap of 1:38.636. Kimi Raikkonen is separating the two McLarens on the times list.

Felipe Nasr showed competitive performance in his first FP1 with Williams Martini Racing - just few tenths slower than his countryman - Massa.

Lotus showed a very good practice with a total of 55 laps done, no failures, no issues - a good sign for a struggling team from the early mid-season tests. But with a huge lack of pace, even Jules Bianchi in the Marussia was able to post a time only a tenth slower than Pastor Maldonado, the fastest of Lotus' drivers in this session.

Looks like Red Bull Racing's focus was to gather data for setups and not posting fast lap times. It's hot in Bahrain, and tire degradation is a big issue of the race. Their drivers posted 10th and 14th result, by Vettel and Ricciardo respectively. I guess the next session will show us the real pace of RB10 at Bahrain.

The race track finally got some grip after this session and the sand on the circuit is not such a problem now, so let's wait for the next practice, the temperatures will be a little lower as the sun will begin to fade away going beyond the horizon.