Without Max Verstappen, who is taking a turn to make way for Ayumu Iwasa, McLaren continues to set the pace in Bahrain. Lando Norris kicks off the desert weekend in style, ahead of Pierre Gasly and Lewis Hamilton.
The first free practice of the Bahrain GP is used by many teams, as often, to let drivers from the talent programs clock up miles in a Formula 1 car. This year there are six: Felipe Drugovic (Aston Martin), Dino Beganovic (Ferrari), Luke Browning (Williams), Ryo Hirakawa (Haas), Fredrik Vesti (Mercedes) and Ayumu Iwasa (Red Bull) are allowed to gain some experience in the scorching hot sandbox (track temperature 48 degrees).
Max Verstappen, Carlos Sainz, Charles Leclerc, Fernando Alonso, Oliver Bearman and George Russell are therefore sidelined. At McLaren, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri are simply behind the wheel. The Brit sets the tone on the medium tire. Lewis Hamilton has very different concerns. The seven-time world champion complains bitterly about the balance of the SF-25, which has been significantly pimped for the race in Bahrain in various areas. When asked from the garage if he wants to run a second timed lap, he responds with a firm ‘no’. “The car feels terrible,” Hamilton believes.
A door further, there are already problems. Kimi Antonelli has to go inside quite quickly: the engine of his tool is overheating. “I have no power,” grumbles the Italian teenager over the radio. His session is immediately over. Yuki Tsunoda also complains: according to Verstappen’s teammate, the clutch of Red Bull’s RB21 reacts quite slowly and feels ‘lazy’. Alex Albon robs Norris halfway through the session with a minimal difference (0.069) of the fastest time.
Albon does not lead the list for very long. Nico Hülkenberg is the first driver to set a time on the red (softest) tire, one that Piastri cannot match due to a sloppiness in the last corner. Tsunoda has a row in the pit lane with Albon, whom he overtakes out of annoyance on that strip and for which the Japanese has to answer to the race direction afterwards. Colleague and teammate Norris eventually restores the pecking order, Pierre Gasly and Hamilton complete the top-3 in a session that can hardly be called representative due to the completely different programs of the teams.
