Bahrain GP: Free Practice #1 - Re-Cap & Times

BAHRAIN GP - FREE PRACTICE #1 - RE-CAP & TIMES

    The first practice session in Bahrain was hot, as track temperatures reached near 50 degrees Celsius. Sebastian Vettel set the quickest time with a 1:32.697, while both Red Bull drivers finished close behind with Ricciardo in 2nd and Verstappen in 3rd. Perez and Massa completed the top 5.

    If you missed the news, Fernando Alonso will be missing the Monaco GP to compete in the Indy 500. McLaren have confirmed that Jenson Button will be replacing him. Alonso finished the session in 8th with a 1:34.372, while team-mate, Vandoorne, lost power and stopped on the side of the track. Despite this, he still finished the session in 13th.

    Vandoorne wasn't the only driver to experience car problems either. Felipe Massa spun during the session and reported over the radio that it was something with the brakes. The team took care of the problem and Massa finished the session in 5th. Lance Stroll finished just behind him 6th.

    Kimi Raikkonen suffered from an overheating engine and was told to turn off the car after it started smoking. Because of this, the Finn was unable to get himself out of last place on the time sheets. His quickest time was 1:42.333. 

    Sauber's Pascal Wehrlein returned to the car for the first time since the first two practice sessions in Melbourne. Wehrlein sat out the Australian GP and the full Chinese GP weekend, deeming himself 'unfit' to complete a full race distance, as this year's cars are more hard on the body to drive. He finished the session in 18th, while his team-mate, Ericsson, finished just ahead of him in 16th.

    Jolyon Palmer experienced some minor car issues and the team came over the radio to tell him he had lost DRS and also had the MGU-K go out a few times. He was able to continue running never-the-less and finished in 15th. Nico Hulkenberg finished a few places ahead in 12th.

TIMES:

1. Sebastian Vettel - 1:32.697 / Ferrari-Ferrari / Germany

2. Daniel Ricciardo - 1:33.097 / Red Bull-TAG-Heuer / Australia

3. Max Verstappen - 1:33.566 / Red Bull-TAG-Heuer / Netherlands

4. Sergio Perez - 1:34.095 / Force India-Mercedes / Mexico

5. Felipe Massa - 1:34.246 / Williams-Mercedes / Brazil

6. Lance Stroll - 1:34.322 / Williams-Mercedes / Canada

7. Esteban Ocon - 1:34.332 / Force India-Mercedes / France

8. Fernando Alonso - 1:34.372 / McLaren-Honda / Spain

9. Romain Grosjean - 1:34.564 / Haas-Ferrari / France

10. Lewis Hamilton - 1:34.636 / Mercedes-Mercedes / Great Britain

11. Daniil Kvyat - 1:34.838 / Toro Rosso-Renault / Russia

12. Nico Hulkenberg - 1:34.927 / Renault-Renault / Germany

13. Stoffel Vandoorne - 1:34.997 / McLaren-Honda / Belgium

14. Valtteri Bottas - 1:35.002 / Mercedes-Mercedes / Finland

15. Jolyon Palmer - 1:35.068 / Renault-Renault / Great Britain

16. Kevin Magnussen - 1:35.579 / Haas-Ferrari / Denmark

17. Marcus Ericsson - 1:35.888 / Sauber-Ferrari / Sweden

18. Pascal Wehrlein - 1:35.959 / Sauber-Ferrari / Germany

19. Carlos Sainz - 1:36.079 / Toro Rosso-Renault / Spain

20. Kimi Raikkonen - 1:42.333 / Ferrari-Ferrari / Finland

----

Article Written By: Amy Hawk

No copyright infringement intended

Follow us on Twitter @F1Insider78 & @Bethonie_Boost