Mercedes have again asserted their dominance on the opening practice session in Bahrain, with Lewis Hamilton taking top honours two tenths clear of team-mate Nico Rosberg.
There were troubling signs early on in the session for Mercedes, as Rosberg reported lack of power which eventually saw him pit for repairs to electronics. However their concerns were put to rest as he was back out on track after 30 minutes.
Front running teams opted to run less laps as the session was run during the afternoon in Bahrain’s heat. The higher temperatures meant higher risks for the engines, which wasn’t worth jeopardising as the current conditions weren’t reflective of race conditions, which will be held in much cooler temperatures at night.
Ferrari was probably the biggest talking point of the session, although not for the right reasons. It wasn’t poor lap times or a crash that raised fans’ eyebrows, but an embarrassing mistake in the pits which saw Alonso make it halfway down pit lane only to realise he had three medium compound tyres and one soft tyre on his front left.
He duly stopped and his mechanics had the humiliating task of running after the car to wheel it back to the garage.
Caterham reserve driver Robin Frijns made his debut for the team and made the most of his time on track, completing more laps than any driver in the session with 35. He was 0.3 seconds faster than Caterham’s Marcus Ericsson, who completed 21 laps.
Jean-Eric Vergne and Max Chilton had troubles with their energy recovery systems, with Vergne describing it as the worst session he’s had for a long time. Both drivers reported loss of energy over one lap.
2014 Bahrain Formula 1 Grand Prix – Free Practice 1 Results:
Driver | Team / Entry | Time | Gap | Laps | ||
1. | Lewis Hamilton | ![]() |
Mercedes AMG Petronas F1W05 | 1:37.502 | 14 | |
2. | Nico Rosberg | ![]() |
Mercedes AMG Petronas F1W05 | 1:37.733 | + 0.231 | 13 |
3. | Fernando Alonso | ![]() |
Scuderia Ferrari F14T | 1:37.953 | + 0.451 | 17 |
4. | Nico Hülkenberg | ![]() |
Force India Mercedes Mercedes VJM07 | 1:38.122 | + 0.620 | 10 |
5. | Jenson Button | ![]() |
McLaren Mercedes MP4-29 | 1:38.636 | + 1.134 | 16 |
6. | Kimi Räikkönen | ![]() |
Scuderia Ferrari F14T | 1:38.783 | + 1.281 | 12 |
7. | Kevin Magnussen | ![]() |
McLaren Mercedes MP4-29 | 1:38.949 | + 1.447 | 15 |
8. | Daniil Kvyat | ![]() |
Scuderia Toro Rosso Renault STR9 | 1:39.056 | + 1.554 | 24 |
9. | Sergio Pérez | ![]() |
Force India Mercedes Mercedes VJM07 | 1:39.102 | + 1.600 | 21 |
10. | Sebastian Vettel | ![]() |
Infiniti Red Bull Racing Renault RB10 | 1:39.389 | + 1.887 | 16 |
11. | Felipe Massa | ![]() |
Williams Martini Racing Mercedes FW36 | 1:39.533 | + 2.031 | 11 |
12. | Jean-Éric Vergne | ![]() |
Scuderia Toro Rosso Renault STR9 | 1:39.862 | + 2.360 | 26 |
13. | Felipe Nasr | ![]() |
Williams Martini Racing Mercedes FW36 | 1:40.078 | + 2.576 | 14 |
14. | Daniel Ricciardo | ![]() |
Infiniti Red Bull Racing Renault RB10 | 1:40.406 | + 2.904 | 19 |
15. | Adrian Sutil | ![]() |
Sauber F1 Team Ferrari C33 | 1:40.652 | + 3.150 | 20 |
16. | Pastor Maldonado | ![]() |
Lotus F1 Team Renault E22 | 1:40.793 | + 3.291 | 31 |
17. | Jules Bianchi | ![]() |
Marussia F1 Team Ferrari MR03 | 1:40.889 | + 3.387 | 20 |
18. | Giedo van der Garde | ![]() |
Sauber F1 Team Ferrari C33 | 1:40.913 | + 3.411 | 20 |
19. | Romain Grosjean | ![]() |
Lotus F1 Team Renault E22 | 1:41.036 | + 3.534 | 24 |
20. | Max Chilton | ![]() |
Marussia F1 Team Ferrari MR03 | 1:41.794 | + 4.292 | 20 |
21. | Robin Frijns | ![]() |
Caterham F1 Team Renault CT05 | 1:42.417 | + 4.915 | 35 |
22. | Marcus Ericsson | ![]() |
Caterham F1 Team Renault CT05 | 1:42.711 | + 5.209 | 21 |
Images Sutton Images
Josh Kruse
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