Sebastian Vettel was fastest in the first free practice for the Bahrain Grand Prix at Sakhir circuit. He was ahead of the Red Bull drivers Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen. Hamilon and Bottas in Mercedes was only 10th and 14th, but that was because they were running in high fuel.
In baking heat, air and track temperatures hitting 36°C and 47°C respectively, drivers spent the early stages lapping on Medium tyres. As they switched to Soft rubber, several teams spent phases on top, before Vettel clocked a 1:32.697 with around half an hour to go.
It was not all plain sailing for Ferrari. Kimi Räikkönen broke down 40 minutes into the session with a turbo issue, costing him almost an hour of potential running. Force India and Williams occupied the next four positions, Sergio Pérez edging out Felipe Massa, and rookie Lance Stroll narrowly getting the better of Esteban Ocon.
Massa lost control of his car at Turn 12/13 in the closing minutes, before he crawled back to the pit lane and, reported over the radio that he “lost the brakes completely”. Fernando Alonso delivered a late improvement to take eighth for Mclaren. He ahead of Romain Grosjean in Haas. The Frenchman complained of power issues.
Lewis Hamilton rounded out the top 10 places. Mercedes spent the session working its way through longer runs, with team-mate Valtteri Bottas back in 14th position. Daniil Kvyat put his Toro Rosso 11th, followed by Renault’s Nico Hülkenberg. He survived a scare exiting the final corner, and Stoffel Vandoorne, who stopped late on.
Jolyon Palmer (Renault) and Kevin Magnussen (Haas) took 15th and 16th respectively. Followed by the Sauber drivers, Marcus Ericsson edging returnee Pascal Wehrlein. Carlos Sainz Jr. was the first to run with the Soft tyre and slipped back to 19th, ahead of only Räikkönen. He failed to record a representative time.
PROVISIONAL CLASSIFICATION: END OF FP1
The drivers will be back on track at 1800 local time/1500 GMT ⏰#BahrainGP ?? pic.twitter.com/fDMAIG2Swc
— Formula 1 (@F1) April 14, 2017
