Red Bull driver Sergio Perez went fastest in the first practice session of the season with a time of 1:32.758 ahead of the 2023 Bahrain Grand Prix, with Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso second fastest, splitting the two Red Bulls at the top of the timing sheet
Meanwhile, Lance Stroll, who was taking to the track for the first time after recovering from his wrist injury, lost 30 minutes of running as Aston Martin discovered an ignition issue with the car.
Williams driver Alex Albon was first on the track followed by his team-mate Logan Sargeant and the two Alfa Romeo drivers for the first practice session of the season.
READ MORE: 2023 F1 Bahrain Grand Prix – FP1 Results
Alpine started the first practice session with a sight familiar from pre-season testing, with a large aero rake on the rear of the cars as the team gathered as much data as possible.
Indeed, a number of teams were visibly trying to gather more data, particularly as all of the teams on the grid have brought upgrades since pre-season testing last week.
Williams started the morning with smaller aero rigs at the rear of Albon’s FW45 while flow-vis paint inevitably made appearances up and down the order.
It was Alonso who topped the times in the opening moments, but he was replaced by Verstappen after just a few minutes. Alonso spent the whole session at the top of the timing sheet, he bettered his time in the second half of the session on the soft C3 tyre, keeping pace with the two Red Bulls.
Oscar Piastri seemed to have a rather shaky start to the day, the F1 rookie caught a momentary snap that saw him go wide on the run off into Turn 7 and before long both of McLaren’s drivers were back In the garage with changes being made to the MCL25.
Piastri and team-mate Lando Norris fared better in the second half of the session and they were able to spend more time out on track. Norris improved on his fastest time when he bolted on the soft tyre.
Haas was the first team of the day to bolt on the Soft C3 tyres. Hulkenberg went seventh fastest of his first faster lap while Magnussen went fourth fastest moments later.
Ferrari’s rear wing was almost see-saw like in the first opening minutes of the session, it wobbled from side to side throughout the entirety of the lap. A change was swiftly made by the Ferrari mechanics.
By the half-way point of the session, it was the two Red Bull teammates that occupied the top of the timing sheet on the soft tyre. Alonso completed the top three with 30 minutes to go but at that point over two seconds off the Red Bulls
Carlos Sainz had a large moment as he approached Turn 9 spinning into the generous run-off area in a sea of smoke from the tyres.
He spun as he went over a slight bump near the kerb and was able to make his way back to the garage unharmed, albeit with a set of flat-spotted medium tyres.
