Red Bull dominated the first free practice session of the Bahrain Grand Prix, but not all teams have clearly shown their game yet.
Formula 1 is back! The 20 cars returned to the track in Bahrain following only three days of testing on this same circuit, i.e. a day and a half per driver… or even nothing for Lance Strollwho sat in the seat of the AMR23 following injuring his wrist in a bicycle accident.
The vast majority of competitors did their first laps on medium tyres, and Sergio Perez set the tone in 1’34″343, more than half a second ahead of the rest of the peloton, led by Fernando Alonso. This was the situation approaching the halfway point, when Stroll had still not completed a single timed lap despite his lack of experience to fill, victim of an ignition problem.
It is then that the Red Bull put on soft rubber, Pérez setting a time of 1’32″758 and Max Verstappen a lap of 1’33.375. No one came up to their level until the final ten minutes, when Alonso clocked 1’33.196.
It is obviously impossible to draw conclusions from a first free practice session. Still, the other drivers are relegated to more than 1.4 seconds from Pérez, starting with the McLaren of Lando Norristhe Ferrari of Charles LeclercStroll’s Aston Martin, the Haas of Kevin Magnussen and the Alfa Romeo Zhou Guanyu. But be careful: the Ferraris, the MercedesTHE Alpine and the Williamssomewhat behind, signed their personal reference in mediums…
Carlos Sainz is the author of the main pirouette of the session, a 360° at high speed in the sequence of turns 9-10. The consequent escape at this point allowed the Ferrari driver to escape with no other damage than badly damaged medium tires. Earlier, Oscar Piastri got a scare with a cross at turn 7, while his teammate Norris shot straight at the first turn. The session ended with a wheel lockup Yuki Tsunoda at turn 8, whileAlexander Albon was hampered on a fast lap by Piastri’s McLaren.
