Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc led the way in first practice session of 2019 F1 Bahrain GP from Sebastian Vettel and Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas.
The first practice session in Bahrain GP is as usual a bit of a dead rubber with the conditions not the same what the teams and drivers will face whether in qualifying or in the race but Ferrari started the weekend in the best possible way after Australia.
Whether Mercedes were sandbagging or not but Leclerc stamped his authority with a best of 1m30.354s which was even 0.263s quicker than his teammate Vettel (1m30.617s) as the Ferrari duo managed to better their rivals Mercedes to set the pace in Bahrain.
Australian GP winner Bottas (1m31.328s) ended up third as he beat Lewis Hamilton (1m31.601s) with the two Mercedes drivers leading the Red Bull Racing duo of Max Verstappen (1m31.673s) and Pierre Gasly (1m31.815s).
With some fresh new parts on his car after the power unit issue in Australia, McLaren’s Carlos Sainz (1m31.952s) did well to be seventh as the best of the rest leader with Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg (1m32.040s) in eighth.
Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat (1m32.339s) and Alfa Romeo Racing’s Kimi Raikkonen (1m32.385s) made it four different midfield teams in the lower half of the Top 10 with Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo (1m32.401s) moving up to 11th after a late lap.
Interestingly, Haas missed out on Top 10 with Kevin Magnussen (1m32.602s) 12th from Toro Rosso’s Alexander Albon (1m32.874s), Racing Point’s Sergio Perez (1m32.885s) and McLaren’s Lando Norris (1m32.945s) in the Top 15.
Alfa Romeo Racing’s Antonio Giovinazzi (1m32.949s) slotted in 16th from Haas’ Romain Grosjean (1m32.994s) with Racing Point’s Lance Stroll (1m33.518s) in 17th after he was involved in a spin in Turn 4 when he skidded off-track to hit the barrier at slow speed.
The team had to change the front wing. Meanwhile, much later in the session, Giovinazzi was involved in a clash with Hulkenberg where they banged wheels – the German was running slow in the S-shaped curve when Giovinazzi wanted to get by and they touched.
The incident came after teammate Raikkonen twice had to take evasive action, once behind a McLaren and then against Albon. Williams’ George Russell (1m34.188s) and Robert Kubica (1m34.253s) rounded out the Top 20 with the former having a late spin.