In FP1, Daniel Ricciardo posted the quickest time during the season’s first official race weekend at the Bahrain Grand Prix.
With a best performance of 1:32.869, the RB driver finished just 0.032 seconds ahead of his former McLaren colleague, Lando Norris.
With just six cars achieving their quickest lap times on the Soft compound of tires, Oscar Piastri finished third in the second McLaren.
In FP2, under the floodlights, more representative conditions will yield the first clue as to the pecking order.
‘Jumping’ Verstappen
During the opening hour of the season, a lot of drivers had trouble staying balanced as the cars were severely damaged by the strong winds.
Even though Max Verstappen had several complaints during the session, such as the RB20 “jumping” because of poor upshifts and downshifts, he managed to record the second-fastest run on the Medium tires.
Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso, the first of the Medium-tyre runners, was behind Yuki Tsunoda, who was fourth fastest in the second RB.
George Russell of Mercedes and Charles Leclerc of Ferrari finished ahead of Verstappen in sixth place. Former teammates Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas completed the first top 10 of the year, with Verstappen finishing on Softs.
Alpine hardships
Sergio Perez, who finished in 12th place and was two-tenths behind teammate Verstappen, did not utilize the Softs, nor did Carlos Sainz, who was ranked 11th in the second Ferrari.
After Lance Stroll, who bemoaned “horrendous” handling in his Aston Martin AMR24, Alex Albon finished first in the Williams.
Zhou Guanyu finished ahead of Logan Sargeant in 15th place, overcoming a long stay in the Stake F1 garage.
Before what is anticipated to be a challenging weekend for the French manufacturer, both Alpines struggled, with Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon finishing faster than only Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg.
