Norris tops FP1 as rookies get to grips with F1

McLaren driver Lando Norris led the way in opening practice for Formula 1’s Bahrain Grand Prix.

Norris led Alpine driver Pierre Gasly and Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton on a jumbled timesheet as teams diverged on run plans in the Bahrain daytime heat.

Friday’s first practice session – on a circuit teams are intimately familiar with – proved an opportunity for six teams to slot in rookie drivers, which they now need to do at four Friday FP1s throughout the season.

Former F2 champion Felipe Drugovich was the most high-profile substitute – for Fernando Alonso at Aston Martin – with Ayumu Iwasa deputising for Max Verstappen at Red Bull. Frederik Vesti, Luke Browning, Dino Beganovich and Ryo Hirakawa also made an appearance.

Vesti in particular caught the eye with a brace of lock-ups into Turn 1 and Turn 10 as he got accustomed to this year’s Mercedes.

Frederik Vesti, Mercedes

Photo by: Fadel Senna – AFP – Getty Images

Norris led the early running, setting a 1m35.249s on mediums that initially went unchallenged but was still six seconds removed from Carlos Sainz’s fastest lap in winter testing at the same venue.

Sainz’s Williams team-mate Alex Albon was Norris’ closest challenger within a tenth until going to with a 1m35.180s on medium tyres, with Sauber rookie Gabriel Bortoleto taking command right before the halfway point, setting a 1m34.628s as the first soft-tyre runner.

Bortoleto and then Gasly led a flurry of laps on Pirelli’s softer compound, before Norris regained the top of the leaderboard with a 1m33.204s, ahead of Gasly, Albon and Haas man Esteban Ocon.

At this stage neither Ferrari nor Mercedes car had embarked on a soft-tyre run. Hamilton saved his best effort for last, parking his Ferrari in third behind Norris and Gasly as the Scuderia trialled substantial changes to its car’s floor and diffuser.

Hamilton demoted Albon to fourth, followed by Haas’ Esteban Ocon, Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg and Alpine man Jack Doohan. Liam Lawson, Yuki Tsunoda and Oscar Piastri rounded out an unusual top 10.

Alongside the usual caveat of unknown fuel loads and engine modes, the session’s unrepresentative timetable was compounded by number of rookie drivers and the session being run in the heat of the day at 35C air temperature and 47C track temperature, significantly hotter than anticipated during the night-time qualifying session and race.

Second practice at the Bahrain International Circuit follows at 6pm local time.