» Rosberg leads Hamilton in FP1

Nico Rosberg has comfortably outpaced teammate Lewis Hamilton in the first practice session for the Bahrain Grand Prix.

Both Mercedes drivers were in a class of their own as third-placed Kimi Räikkönen lapped 1.8 seconds off Rosberg’s benchmark, which was 0.277 seconds quicker than the pole lap set by Hamilton last year.

Räikkönen’s teammate Sebastian Vettel was further down the order in eleventh, spending majority of the session on the medium compound tyre, as Ferrari have had very little running with the compound.

Daniel Ricciardo and Daniil Kvyat were separated by just 0.08 seconds in fourth and fifth place respectively for Red Bull Racing, while Force India’s Nico Hülkenberg was one-tenth of a second behind in sixth place.

Reserve driver Alfonso Celis Jr. made his race weekend debut for Force India – stepping in for Sergio Pérez for the first practice session – however, he didn’t perform as strongly as he did in pre-season testing. The Mexican was 2.7 seconds slower than Hülkenberg in the other Force India, finishing second last on the timesheets ahead of Rio Haryanto in the Manor.

Also making his debut this weekend, deputising for Fernando Alonso who is still suffering chest injuries from his crash in Australia, was McLaren’s reserve driver Stoffel Vandoorne.

The reigning GP2 Series champion finished his first session in eighteenth position and just over four seconds off Rosberg’s best time. This was the first time Vandoorne had experienced McLaren’s 2016 car, as both Jenson Button and Alonso shared driving duties in the pre-season test.

Scuderia Toro Rosso managed to get both drivers in the top ten once again, with Carlos Sainz Jr. leading Max Verstappen by 0.07 seconds. The pair finished the session in seventh and eighth places respectively.

Kevin Magnussen was the highest placed Renault driver in fifteenth position behind Button in the McLaren, while Jolyon Palmer was a second and a half behind in twentieth.

2016 FORMULA 1 GULF AIR BAHRAIN GRAND PRIX – FREE PRACTICE 1 RESULTS
	Driver	Team / Entry	Result	Laps
1.	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 W07 Hybrid	1:32.294	24
2.	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 W07 Hybrid	+ 0.505	16
2.	Kimi Räikkönen	Scuderia Ferrari SF16-H	+ 1.834	27
4.	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull Racing Tag Heuer RB12	+ 2.167	30
5.	Daniil Kvyat	Red Bull Racing Tag Heuer RB12	+ 2.247	28
6.	Nico Hülkenberg	Sahara Force India Mercedes VJM09	+ 2.307	21
7.	Carlos Sainz Jr	Scuderia Toro Rosso Ferrari STR11	+ 2.499	19
8.	Max Verstappen	Scuderia Toro Rosso Ferrari STR11	+ 2.566	18
9.	Romain Grosjean	Haas F1 Ferrari VF-16	+ 2.706	19
10.	Felipe Massa	Williams Martini Racing Mercedes FW38	+ 2.712	14
11.	Sebastian Vettel	Scuderia Ferrari SF16-H	+ 2.779	21
12.	Valtteri Bottas	Williams Martini Racing Mercedes FW38	+ 2.880	19
13.	Esteban Gutiérrez	Haas F1 Ferrari VF-16	+ 3.015	19
14.	Jenson Button	McLaren-Honda MP4-31	+ 3.146	28
15.	Kevin Magnussen	Renault Sport F1 Team RS16	+ 3.196	27
16.	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber F1 Team Ferrari C35	+ 3.434	30
17.	Pascal Wehrlein	Manor Racing Mercedes MRT5	+ 4.077	26
18.	Stoffel Vandoorne	McLaren-Honda MP4-31	+ 4.098	25
19.	Felipe Nasr	Sauber F1 Team Ferrari C35	+ 4.425	24
20.	Jolyon Palmer	Renault Sport F1 Team RS16	+ 4.645	28
21.	Alfonso Celis Jr	Sahara Force India Mercedes VJM09	+ 4.993	23
22.	Rio Haryanto	Manor Racing Mercedes MRT5	+ 5.420	27