REPORT: Rosberg fastest as Mercedes sets blistering pace
Romain Grosjean's exclusive F1i column - Bahrain
RACE PREVIEW: Bahrain Grand Prix
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Mercedes was ominously quick throughout the first session on Friday, with Nico Rosberg half a second clear of Lewis Hamilton at the top of the times and over 1.8s faster than Kimi Raikkonen in third place.
Ferrari's true pace may have been masked slightly with Rosberg's best time coming on the soft tyre and Sebastian Vettel only running the mediums, suggesting Vettel was testing upgrades using a stable baseline in conditions which tend to be unrepresentative during the opening session. With the race taking place after sunset, only FP2 and qualifying take place at the same time.
Stoffel Vandoorne's debut F1 weekend got off to a steady start, with the Belgian driver within a second of Jenson Button in FP1 despite it being his first time in the 2016 McLaren. However, both drivers were outside the top ten as Red Bull and Toro Rosso started the race weekend strongly, while Haas also impressed with Romain Grosjean in P9.
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REPORT: Rosberg fastest as Mercedes sets blistering pace
Romain Grosjean's exclusive F1i column - Bahrain
RACE PREVIEW: Bahrain Grand Prix
Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter
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