Norris is fastest in the opening practice session in Bahrain.

IMAGE: Liauzh from Wikipedia Commons

Lando Norris leads the way in first practice in Bahrain.

The McLaren driver topped the time sheets with a time of 1:33.204

Just 2 tenths of a second behind was the Alpine of Pierre Gasly which looks to be a welcome step forward for the French team and driver.

Hamilton made up the closely contested top 3 setting a lap of 1:33.800 in his Ferrari.

Alex Albon put in a great performance to put his Williams in P4, just seven tenths behind Norris in the lead. Ocon put his Haas in 5th - a solid showing for the American team. Nico Hulkenburg, Jack Doohan, Liam Lawson, Yuki Tsunoda, and Oscar Piastri fininshed off the top 10. 

Six new rookies from suppoting series/driver academies took part in today’s session and it was Luke Browning who was the fastest of the pack bringing his loaned Williams home in P13.

Dino Beganovic (P14), Felipe Drugovich (P16), Ryo Hirakawa (P17), Fredrick Vesti (P18), Ayumu Iwasa (P19) took the places of Charles Leclerc, Fernando Alonso, Oliver Bearman, George Russell, and Max Verstappen respectively and were all keen to show what they could do.

Liam Lawson’s rocky start to the season seemed to be continuing with him struggling with the balance of his Racing Bulls car but he managed to place his car in 8th - a solid result. 

A loss of water pressure is believed to be the cause of Kimi Antonelli’s short lived session.

The Italian only completed three laps before he was brought into the garage and work began on his car after saying over the radio he had no power.

Plenty of drivers were struggling for grip in the opening session so it will be important for teams to use what they have learnt about the different tyre compounds and to continue to gather data in FP2 later on today. 

The stewards will be looking at an impeding incident between the two Williams drivers with Albon also being involved in an investigation into an unsafe release in the pit lane. 

Its all to play for in Bahrain, with Alpine back in the fold and all F1 drivers back in their cars for FP2 at 18:00 local time (4pm BST).


Bahrain Grand Prix Weekend timings

Free Practice 2 - Friday April 11 at 4pm (UK time)
Free Practice 3 - Saturday April 12 at 1.30pm (UK time)
Qualifying - Saturday April 12 at 5pm (UK time)
Race - Sunday April 13 at 4pm (UK time)

Katie Shepherd
Writer - F1 Journal