Lando Norris topped the first practice session for the 2025 Bahrain Grand Prix as Pierre Gasly was second fastest with Lewis Hamilton third.
With the Bahrain GP qualifying and race running in the evening, the first practice session was always going to be unrepresentative especially as the likes of Max Verstappen, George Russell, and Charles Leclerc sat out the session handing over their cars to reserve and rookie drivers.
Lack of grip was an issue all drivers suffered from throughout FP1 with many drivers locking up and running wide during the session as the track was yet to rubber up.
Norris posted a 1:33.204 to go fastest of all, 0.238s ahead of Gasly in second while seven-time Formula 1 champion, Hamilton was third, almost sixth tenths of the pace.
Alex Albon was fourth fastest ahead of Esteban Ocon who was fifth in the Haas as Nico Hulkenberg was sixth in the Sauber.
Jack Doohan was seventh fastest in the second Alpine while Liam Lawson followed in eighth with Yuki Tsunoda was ninth and Oscar Piastri tenth.
It was a tough session for Mercedes as Kimi Antonelli spent the session in the garage with a car problem while the other car was driver by Frederik Vesti who ended the session 18th.
As for the other rookies, Luke Browning was 13th in the Williams, Dino Baganovic was 14th in the Ferrari, Felipe Drugovich was 16th in the Aston Martin, Ryo Hirakawa was 17th in the Haas, and Ayumu Awasa was 19th in the Red Bull.
Buildup towards FP1
This weekend we head into the second race of the first triple header this season and we head to Bahrain after an intense weekend in Japan where Verstappen fired a warning shot about his plans for defending his title and going for a fifth consecutive one.
The Dutchman will have the momentum and the boost of confidence after his famous win at Suzuka, but the Sakhir track is a different beast and there are no guarantees how the RB21 goes there. The only constant is Verstappen's relentless form.
McLaren need to bounce back as Norris is only one point ahead of Verstappen in the drivers' championship and they need to start maximizing their results since no one knows how the development race evolves as the season progresses.
McLaren have a minor development this weekend with a revised front brake duct winglet introduced on their MCL39.
Red Bull Racing have revised cooling louvres in response to the higher temperature forecasted this weekend in Bahrain while they also have a modified front wing with a longer chord flap.
Haas have a new engine cover with a wider center exit in response to cooling requirements this weekend.
However, Ferrari who have failed to live up to early expectations so far this season have brought a considerable upgrade to their SF-25 that will feature new floor body, floor edge, floor fences, a new diffuser as well as a revised rear wing.
In terms of tyres, Pirelli have brought the C1 (Hard), C2 (Medium) and C3 (Soft) compounds this weekend.
In terms of drivers, FP1 will see many several regular drivers handing their cars over to their team reserves or junior drivers.
Verstappen will sit out FP1 and hand his RB21 over to Iwasa who is currently competing in the Japanese Super Formula.
Ferrari junior and Formula 2 racer Beganovic will replace Leclerc in FP1 while Vesti will be on driving duty for Mercedes replacing Russell.
Drugovich will jump into the Aston Martin AMR25 for the first 60 minutes of practice while Fernando Alonso makes way for the young Brazilian.
Hirakawa will replace Oliver Bearman in the Haas, the Japanese having recently signed with the American team as a new reserve driver having previously been with Alpine.
Williams confirmed that Browning will drive Carlos Sainz's car in FP1.
FP1 Session Highlights
The session started in clear but hot conditions with track temperatures a scorching 48 degrees Celsius while air temperature was at 35 degrees.
Five minutes into the session Vesti suffered a minor moment at Turn 1, the Mercedes snapping but he held it and kept going.
Ocon, on the other hand, complained that his car was pulling left to right on the straights, but soon after Antonelli radioed that he had and issue and lost power.
The Italian was instructed to set his car into safe mode and limped back into the pits. He added: "I got no power mate."
Replay also showed Piastri getting out of shape into Turn 14. He kept it together though.
Vesti had a couple of other moments, running wide at Turn 10 and then locked up at Turn 14.
Hamilton reported that his car's balance was not ok, he said: "Balance. Uh. Feels like the car is not working at all but it's probably just the grip of the tyres."
Piastri was asked about his front wing, he responded it was ok, a bit high, and went on complaining about the grip as well.
No one was happy with his car as Lawson was asked about the balance, he responded: "Shocking."
Hamilton's engineer then asked him if he wanted another push lap, the Briton's response was negative adding that his car felt "horrendous".
In the meantime, Antonelli's car was up on the stands in the Mercedes garage as the mechanics proceeded in removing the floor. Bad news for the Italian rookie.
Tsunoda reported that his throttle was "not reacting well" and that it felt "lazy". After that, he boxed but missed the Red Bull garage. He was instructed to keep going straight back out on track.
Soon after, the teams starting switching to the Soft tyres for some hot laps. Piastri and Hadjar both had snaps while on their flying laps.
Later it was revealed that Antonelli was suffering from a water pressure issue as Mercedes needed to remove the gearbox off his car to try and fix the issue.
To make matters worse, the gearbox seemed stuck to the engine and the mechanic could not take them apart.
Replay showed Albon being sent out into the pitlane in the path of Tsunoda and the incident was noted by the stewards.
Then both Tsunoda and Piastri ran wide on the final corner.
Around 15 minutes away from the end, the two Williams cars, Albon and Browning almost crashed as the former came across the track blocking the other blue car. Browning did well to avoid a crash.
"That was close," exclaimed Drugovich who had a front row seat for the incident.
The incident was also noted by the stewards.
Albon then reported a problem with the clutch, saying he lost power. He kept driving though. He was on a high fuel run as were all the other drivers in the final ten minutes of the session.
The session ended with practice starts while Toto Wolff came on the radio thanking Vesti for the excellent job he has done.
Bahrain GP FP1 Classification
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