BAHRAIN GP – Pierre Gasly fastest by a quarter of a second from Charles Leclerc in first practice
Pierre Gasly was fastest in the first practice session ahead of this weekend’s seasons opening Bahrain Grand Prix. The Alpha Tauri driver set a 34.193 putting him three and a half tenths ahead of the two Ferraris, setting his fastest time on the softs while Charles Leclerc was half a second faster than teammate Carlos Sainz.
Gasly set his fastest time on used soft tyres with just over ten minutes to go putting him ahead of the Monacan. However, the lap was a lot slower than Max Verstappen’s fastest time in testing and his pole position time last March. But was on different tyre compounds.
Leclerc also spun his Ferrari on the lap before he set his best time, while improving it could have probably been a bit faster.
The first practice session in Sakhir is normally one of the most reprehensive of the season, under the desert sun ahead of a night race. George Russell put his Mercedes fourth-fastest going just over a tenth faster than Max Verstappen, but the Englishman continued to struggle with proposing more than other teams.
Lance Stroll put his Aston Martin in between the two Mercedes he was just over eight hundredths behind Russell but managed to go over a tenth faster than Lewis Hamilton.
However, there remains doubts that Mercedes are really behind Red Bull and Mercedes given past results, they insisted since last weekend they are not in the mix. Mercedes weren’t looking that comfortable on track, as both Russell and Hamilton complained about rear grip.
Fernando Alonso put his Alpine eighth, the two-time champion going over a tenth faster than Yuki Tsunoda with Sergio Perez going tenth. Guanyu Zhou put his Alfa Romeo eleventh fastest, going nearly a tenth quicker than Esteban Ocon. However, it was a tough start for Zhou’s teammate Valtteri Bottas, the Finn not setting a time.
Ocon caused the only red flag of the session, when a upgraded sidepod flew off the Alpine and shattered on the main straight. That caused the session to be stopped for ten minutes to clear up the debris. The Frenchman finishing the session eleventh fastest nearly half a second up on the Williams of Nicolas Latifi.
Nico Hulkenberg used his first outing in the Aston Martin to spilt the Williams, going just over a tenth faster than Alex Albon. Hulkenberg replaces Sebastian Vettel this weekend after the four-time champion tested positive for Covid-19.
Alex Albon put his Williams fifteenth fastest, despite struggling with under and oversteer, he was almost four-tenths faster than the McLaren’s. Lando Norris going just under a tenth faster than teammate Daniel Ricciardo, in the Australian’s first outing since Barcelona after missing last weekends test after testing positive for Covid.
Mick Schumacher edged out his Haas teammate Kevin Magnussen by just under three tenths. Bottas didn’t set a time after stuttering on his instal lap.