Kimi Raikkonen set the fastest time of the first practice session for the Bahrain Grand Prix as the two Ferraris topped the standings.

In hot conditions at the Bahrain International Circuit, Raikkonen set a best time of 1:37.827 to beat team-mate Sebastian Vettel by 0.202s in FP1. Vettel's time came despite a problem early in the session as he reported a loss of power and spent a large chunk of time in the pits.

While conditions in FP1 and FP3 are very different compared to the second practice session, qualifying and the race - all which take place after sunset - Ferrari's team total of 25 laps shows a confidence in its starting position with the car.

Mercedes, on the other hand, was busy working on comparisons and long runs as Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton ended the session in 15th and 16th places respectively. Both cars were running vastly different programmes than the rest of the field, being the first two to set a time and also lapping alone in the middle of the session as they completed 45 laps between them.

Valtteri Bottas was third for Williams, half a second off Raikkonen and at the head of a close chasing pack. The gap from Bottas to Pastor Maldonado in P12 was less than half a second, with Carlos Sainz Jr his closest challenger in fourth, 0.057s slower than the Williams.

While Fernando Alonso was seventh quickest for McLaren - 0.7s off Raikkonen's time - he appeared to be struggling with the handling as he ran wide at Turn 1 on more than one occasion. It was also a disappointing session for Jenson Button, who missed out on any serious running as a result of a technical problem with his McLaren.

Button had a strange looking spin at Turn 1 at the start of his second lap and was then unable to continue, having to leave the car and walk back to the pits. While the MP4-30 was recovered, McLaren was unable to get the issue rectified in time for Button to return to the track, with the team saying the car cut out in the incident.

A number of cars ran wide on what was a dusty circuit for the opening session, with Maldonado finding the gravel on the exit of the final corner. His Lotus team-mate for the session was Jolyon Palmer who did another solid job in only his second FP1 outing, finishing 0.4s adrift of Maldonado's best time.

FP2 will provide more of a form guide for this weekend, with the second practice session taking place at the same time as the race start at 1800 local time.

Click here for Friday's gallery from the Bahrain Grand Prix 

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Pos Driver Team Time Laps
01 K. Raikkonen Ferrari 1:37.827 13
02 S. Vettel Ferrari 1:38.029 12
03 V. Bottas Williams 1:38.390 23
04 C. Sainz Toro Rosso 1:38.447 14
05 D. Ricciardo Red Bull 1:38.455 17
06 M. Verstappen Toro Rosso 1:38.504 22
07 F. Alonso McLaren 1:38.598 18
08 F. Nasr Sauber 1:38.628 17
09 D. Kvyat Red Bull 1:38.661 17
10 F. Massa Williams 1:38.790 21
11 S. Perez Force India 1:38.793 15
12 P. Maldonado Lotus 1:38.842 23
13 N. Hulkenberg Force India 1:39.187 20
14 J. Palmer Lotus 1:39.283 31
15 N. Rosberg Mercedes 1:39.293 23
16 L. Hamilton Mercedes 1:39.532 22
17 M. Ericsson Sauber 1:39.534 21
18 R. Merhi Manor 1:42.973 12
19 W. Stevens Manor 1:44.265 15
20 J. Button McLaren 2
Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.

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