Norris heads Gasly after opening hour of Bahrain GP FP1

McLaren’s Lando Norris headed Pierre Gasly of Alpine after the opening hour of practice at the Bahrain Grand Prix, with six teams running FP1 drivers. 

Feature image credit: McLaren Racing

In the opening hour of practice, there was a flurry of swaps up and down the pit lane with six teams opting to run their FP1 rookies this weekend. 

Frederik Vesti took over George Russell, in Mercedes, Felipe Drugovich replaced Fernando Alonso at Aston Martin, and Dino Beganovic swapped with Charles Leclerc in Ferrari. 

The defending Red Bull world champion, Max Verstappen, sat out FP1 with Ayumu Iwasa taking his place, Luke Browning took over Carlos Sainz at Williams, and Ryo Hirakawa replaced Oliver Bearman.

How did the first practice session end? 

Sainz dares punishment for ‘s*** happens’ ahead of F1 Bahrain GP

Norris stood as the fastest driver after the opening hour of practice ahead of Gasly by 0.238s as Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari, rounded out the top three, half a second behind. 

Alexander Albon of Williams and Haas’ Esteban Ocon completed the top five in fourth and fifth, respectively. 

This left Nico Hulkenberg (Kick Sauber) to lead the bottom five inside the top 10, in sixth, ahead of Jack Doohan (Alpine), Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls), Yuki Tsunoda (Red Bull) and Oscar Piastri (McLaren), in seventh, eighth, ninth and 10th. 

1.304 seconds separated the two McLarens, who sat in first and 10th.

Gabriel Bortoleto, Kick Sauber, led the bottom 10 in 11th ahead of Isack Hadjar (Racing Bulls) and Browning in 12th and 13th. Beganovic and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll rounded out the top 15.

Four of the FP1 rookies completed the bottom five in the order of Drugovich, Hirakawa, Vesti and Iwasa in 16th to 19th. Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli finished the session in 20th, hindered by a water leak early on in the session.

Read more Formula 1 here:

• Sainz dares punishment for ‘s*** happens’ ahead of F1 Bahrain GP
• FIA confirm further inspections on McLaren ahead of Bahrain GP
• Six teams to use FP1 rookies at Bahrain GP
• Haas confirm Hirakawa FP1 debut for Bahrain GP
• Latest weather forecast for the F1 Bahrain Grand Prix
• FIA confirms compliance following post-race Japan GP checks

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Kamron Kent

Hi, I’m Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion.

I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I’ve loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.

Kamron Kent

Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.