AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly set the pace as Formula 1’s new season kicked off with the opening practice session in Bahrain.
Gasly used Soft tyres to post a time of 1:34.193s in the opening 60-minute session, which took place in warm and sunny daytime conditions.
The second session, along with qualifying and the race, are scheduled to take place at dusk.
Gasly’s time left him 0.364s clear of Charles Leclerc, who survived a wild spin through Turn 11, while Carlos Sainz was third in the sister Ferrari.
Both Ferrari drivers clocked their best times on the Medium tyres.
Mercedes finished fourth and seventh, George Russell ahead of Lewis Hamilton, as both used Soft tyres for their best efforts.
They were split by reigning World Champion Max Verstappen and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll.
Alpine’s Fernando Alonso, AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda and Red Bull’s Sergio Perez rounded out the top 10.
Nico Hulkenberg was a solid 14th as he returned to Formula 1 action for the first time since October 2020.
McLaren had a subdued session, with Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo classifying 16th and 17th respectively, while Haas pair Mick Schumacher and Kevin Magnussen were the slowest of the drivers to set a lap time – though did not use Softs.
A couple of teams had reliability setbacks during the session.
Esteban Ocon caused a 13-minute stoppage early in the session when new sidepod bodywork detached from his Alpine A522 along the main straight.
Valtteri Bottas managed only two installation laps for Alfa Romeo after reporting a misfire on his initial outlap.
Second practice for Formula 1’s Bahrain Grand Prix is scheduled for 18:00 local time.
Position
Driver
Team
Time Gap
Laps
1
Pierre Gasly
AlphaTauri
1:34.193
23
2
Charles Leclerc
Ferrari
1:34.557 0.364
22
3
Carlos Sainz Jr
Ferrari
1:34.611 0.418
23
4
George Russell
Mercedes
1:34.629 0.436
23
5
Max Verstappen
Red Bull
1:34.742 0.549
22
6
Lance Stroll
Aston Martin
1:34.814 0.621
22
7
Lewis Hamilton
Mercedes
1:34.943 0.750
17
8
Fernando Alonso
Alpine
1:35.000 0.807
14
9
Yuki Tsunoda
AlphaTauri
1:35.028 0.835
20
10
Sergio Perez
Red Bull
1:35.050 0.857
23
11
Guanyu Zhou
Alfa Romeo
1:35.053 0.860
20
12
Esteban Ocon
Alpine
1:35.151 0.958
15
13
Nicholas Latifi
Williams
1:35.644 1.451
15
14
Nico Hulkenberg
Aston Martin
1:35.815 1.622
23
15
Alex Albon
Williams
1:35.923 1.730
17
16
Lando Norris
McLaren
1:36.304 2.111
22
17
Daniel Ricciardo
McLaren
1:36.402 2.209
20
18
Mick Schumacher
Haas
1:36.536 2.343
23
19
Kevin Magnussen
Haas
1:36.804 2.611
21
20
Valtteri Bottas
Alfa Romeo
2
