Nico Rosberg set the fastest time of the first practice session for the Bahrain Grand Prix as Mercedes was nearly two seconds clear of the rest of the field.
While the opening practice session is usually unrepresentative in Bahrain, overcast and cool conditions led to similar temperatures to those which will be seen on race day under floodlights. Mercedes wasted no time in putting down a marker at the start of the weekend, with Rosberg and team-mate Lewis Hamilton immediately jumping to the top of the times.
A run on soft tyres later in the opening session saw Rosberg set the pace with a 1:32.294, which left him half a second clear of Hamilton. However, it is the gap back to Kimi Raikkonen in third place which is ominous, as Raikkonen's best soft lap was still more than 1.8s slower than Rosberg.
Fourth quickest was Daniel Ricciardo in the Red Bull - over two seconds adrift of the quickest time - with Daniil Kvyat fifth, 0.1s behind his team-mate. It was a close field behind the Mercedes pair, with Raikkonen in third to Sebastian Vettel in 11th covered by less than a second.
Vettel was further down the times having only run the medium compound tyre throughout the first session, but the gap of 2.7s to Rosberg is a big one even at this early stage of the weekend.
Both Toro Rosso drivers set times inside the top eight while Romain Grosjean followed his impressive Haas debut in Australia with the ninth fastest time in FP1, four places and 0.3s ahead of team-mate Esteban Gutierrez.
Stoffel Vandoorne made a solid start to his debut grand prix weekend as he was within a second of team-mate Jenson Button on his first run in the McLaren. Vandoorne was four seconds off the overall pace in 18th, and made one slight error early on when he ran wide at Turn 11. The Belgian driver was receiving feedback from Fernando Alonso during FP1, having replaced the injured Spaniard at late notice this weekend.
Another driver making his FP1 debut was Alfonso Celis Jr in the Force India as he took over from Sergio Perez for the opening session. Celis was a full 2.6s slower than team-mate Nico Hulkenberg during first practice, with his confidence not helped by an excursion through the gravel at high speed early on after the rear of the car threatened to step out on him.
FP2 will take place under floodlights at 1800 local time, with the session starting at the same time as Sunday's race.
AS IT HAPPENED: FP1 from the Bahrain Grand Prix
Romain Grosjean's exclusive F1i column - Bahrain
RACE PREVIEW: Bahrain Grand Prix
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| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:32.294 | 24 |
| 02 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:32.799 | 24 |
| 03 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1:34.128 | 16 |
| 04 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull | 1:34.461 | 27 |
| 05 | Daniil Kvyat | Red Bull | 1:34.541 | 30 |
| 06 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India | 1:34.601 | 28 |
| 07 | Carlos Sainz | Toro Rosso | 1:34.793 | 21 |
| 08 | Max Verstappen | Toro Rosso | 1:34.860 | 19 |
| 09 | Romain Grosjean | Haas | 1:35.000 | 18 |
| 10 | Felipe Massa | Williams | 1:35.006 | 19 |
| 11 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1:35.073 | 14 |
| 12 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams | 1:35.174 | 21 |
| 13 | Esteban Gutierrez | Haas | 1:35.309 | 19 |
| 14 | Jenson Button | McLaren | 1:35.440 | 28 |
| 15 | Kevin Magnussen | Renault | 1:35.190 | 27 |
| 16 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber | 1:35.728 | 30 |
| 17 | Pascal Wehrlein | Manor | 1:36.371 | 26 |
| 18 | Stoffel Vandoorne | McLaren | 1:36.392 | 25 |
| 19 | Felipe Nasr | Sauber | 1:36.719 | 24 |
| 20 | Jolyon Palmer | Renault | 1:36.939 | 28 |
| 21 | Alfonso Celis | Force India | 1:37.287 | 23 |
| 22 | Rio Haryanto | Manor | 1:37.714 | 27 |
