RB driver Daniel Ricciardo went quickest in the first practice for the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix, with the Australian driver beating McLaren’s Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri to take top spot at the Bahrain International Circuit, with Yuki Tsunodoa fourth in the other RB. All four drivers used the softest tyres on offer to set their best times.
A busy start to the session saw most drivers take to the track on the C2 compound medium tyres and the lead changed hands frequently as drivers made rapid gains. Defending World Champion Max Verstappen kept his powder dry during this opening phase but after 10 minutes the Dutchman emerged from the Red Bull garage and quickly powered to the top of the order with a lap of 1:33.900.
Mercedes pair Lewis Hamilton and George Russell were improving, however, and after Hamilton got within three hundredths of a second of Verstappen, Russell found more pace3 to post a time of 1:33.749 and shunt Verstappen to P2.
Verstappen was in the groove, though, and moments later he returned to top spot with a lap of 1:33.535.
As the half way mark arrived Piastri bolted on a set of C3 Soft tyres and he rose to the top of the order with a time 1:33.113. Norris then moved ahead on the soft tyres with a lap of 1:32.901. Tsunoda’s first lap on Softs put him third behind Piastri, but then the Japanese driver’s team-mate Ricciardo took the top spot with a soft-shod 1:32.869.
Behind the top four, Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso took fifth place on the timesheet, while Verstappen slotted in behind the Spaniard using Medium tyres to set a best time of 1:33.238, 0.369 off pacesetter Ricciardo.
The Dutchman was followed by fellow medium tyres runners Russell, Charles Leclerc of Ferrari, Hamilton and the top 10 was rounded out by Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas, who also set his best time on Soft tyres.
2024 FIA Formula 1 Bahrain Grand Prix – Free Practice 1
1 Daniel Ricciardo RB 1:32.869 23 209.792
2 Lando Norris McLaren 1:32.901 0.032 25 209.720
3 Oscar Piastri McLaren 1:33.113 0.244 25 209.242
4 Yuki Tsunoda RB 1:33.183 0.314 24 209.085
5 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin 1:33.193 0.324 20 209.062
6 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing 1:33.238 0.369 21 208.962
7 George Russell Mercedes 1:33.251 0.382 25 208.932
8 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:33.268 0.399 24 208.894
9 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:33.302 0.433 22 208.818
10 Valtteri Bottas Sauber 1:33.354 0.485 21 208.702
11 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:33.385 0.516 26 208.633
12 Sergio Pérez Red Bull Racing 1:33.413 0.544 24 208.570
13 Alexander Albon Williams 1:33.583 0.714 17 208.191
14 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1:33.868 0.999 20 207.559
15 Zhou Guanyu Sauber 1:33.923 1.054 16 207.438
16 Logan Sargeant Williams 1:34.213 1.344 19 206.799
17 Esteban Ocon Alpine 1:34.807 1.938 21 205.503
18 Pierre Gasly Alpine 1:35.144 2.275 24 204.775
19 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1:37.477 4.608 25 199.874
20 Nico Hülkenberg Haas 1:37.938 5.069 27 198.934
