Red Bull’s Max Verstappen returned to the top of the timesheet in the first FP1 session of the season, running 0.298s faster than Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas at the Bahrain International Circuit.
Friday’s sessions were shortened to 2021, from 90 minutes to an hour, and the first FP1 of the year was an action-packed session that saw a flurry of delayed laps with soft field tires. Verstappen put his Red Bull faster, just as he did in the pre-season tests, but admitted that he left something on the table with an error on his 1’31.394s flying lap – although he was still fast enough to knock Bottas down for second.
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The Finn was followed by McLaren’s Lando Norris (0.5s off pace) and defending champion Lewis Hamilton in fourth. Hamilton was one of several riders who used only soft tires in this session.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was fifth fastest, 0.599s above the pace and 0.078s ahead of new Red Bull driver Sergio Perez. Leclerc’s new Ferrari teammate, Carlos Sainz, finished eighth, while Pierre Gasly took seventh place for AlphaTauri.
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|
1 Max. Verstappen TO SEE Red Bull Racing |
1: 31,394 |
|
two Valtteri Bottas robot Mercedes |
+ 0.298s |
|
3 Lando Norris NOR McLaren |
+ 0.503s |
|
4 Lewis Hamilton HAM Mercedes |
+ 0.527s |
|
5 Charles Leclerc LEC Ferrari |
+ 0.599s |
Gasly’s new teammate, Yuki Tsunoda, was in 14th, but was outraged by the traffic that hampered one of his last flight efforts.
Ninth place Daniel Ricciardo finished half a second from third place Norris in his first session with McLaren, but he was ahead of the Alfa Romeo duo, showing how fierce the midfield battle this season is. 10th-placed Antonio Giovinazzi was faster than veteran Kimi Raikkonen (11th) in that battle within the team.
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Aston Martin followed the Alfa Romeos, with Sebastian Vettel in 12th as he became familiar with his new team and car, finishing one tenth faster than his teammate Lance Stroll.
The Alpines were in 15th and 16th, after spending the first half of the session on hard tires. Repatriate Fernando Alonso ended up behind teammate Esteban Ocon.
Williams’ George Russell finished 17th, ahead of the P18 Nicholas Latifi, with the iconic British team honoring the great Murray Walker in his FW43Bs.
And finally, the two Haas rookies completed the classification, Mick Schumacher finishing 19th and just under half a second ahead of Nikita Mazepin – 3.581s from first place.
The sun will set and temperatures will drop for FP2 this afternoon, but who will rise to the challenge? Follow the live coverage on F1.com and stay tuned for the latest news and reactions from the first weekend of the season’s Grand Prix.