Bahrain GP: Hamilton and Bottas lead Mercedes 1-2 in Practice 1

It was a Mercedes 1-2 in opening practice for the Bahrain GP, with Lewis Hamilton heading his teammate Valtteri Bottas by 0.449s, with Sergio Perez a solid third for Racing Point, but almost a full second back.

So confident were Hamilton and Bottas that he even completed nearly a full race distance in race trim – those two having managed 40 laps each, with the race on Sunday set to be 57.

Carlos Sainz Jr. was 4th for McLaren while Pierre Gasly rounded out the top-5 for AlphaTauri.

The Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel were both 1.5s off the pace in 11th and 12th and out to lunch.

Daniil Kvyat struggled down in 17th place

The F1 circus might have thought it had escaped the inclement weather when it left Europe and set sail for the sunny shores of Bahrain, but after a glorious Thursday in the paddock where shorts were the order of the day, Friday dawned overcast with a passing shower. Hopefully the rain holds off.

Practice 1 Results

POS NO DRIVER CAR TIME GAP LAPS
1 44 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:29.033 +0.000s 40
2 77 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1:29.482 +0.449s 41
3 11 Sergio Perez Racing Point Mercedes 1:30.000 +0.967s 31
4 55 Carlos Sainz McLaren Renault 1:30.018 +0.985s 31
5 10 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri Honda 1:30.049 +1.016s 34
6 33 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing Honda 1:30.294 +1.261s 18
7 23 Alexander Albon Red Bull Racing Honda 1:30.302 +1.269s 34
8 31 Esteban Ocon Renault 1:30.384 +1.351s 28
9 18 Lance Stroll Racing Point Mercedes 1:30.426 +1.393s 30
10 3 Daniel Ricciardo Renault 1:30.508 +1.475s 30
11 16 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:30.589 +1.556s 29
12 5 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:30.628 +1.595s 24
13 88 Robert Kubica Alfa Romeo Racing Ferrari 1:30.732 +1.699s 24
14 8 Romain Grosjean Haas Ferrari 1:30.832 +1.799s 28
15 20 Kevin Magnussen Haas Ferrari 1:30.854 +1.821s 29
16 99 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo Racing Ferrari 1:30.896 +1.863s 27
17 26 Daniil Kvyat AlphaTauri Honda 1:31.020 +1.987s 37
18 4 Lando Norris McLaren Renault 1:31.392 +2.359s 27
19 6 Nicholas Latifi Williams Mercedes 1:32.472 +3.439s 29
20 40 Roy Nissany Williams Mercedes 1:32.801 +3.768s 27