Prac One: Hamilton leads Merc 1-2

Mercedes confirmed their advantage over the chasing pack in Bahrain on Friday where Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg topped the timesheets.

Heading out 15 minutes into FP1, Hamilton hit the front ahead of Rosberg with the duo holding those positions as one by one their rivals ventured out.

It wasn’t long before most of the top 15 were back in the pits as not only did the drivers spend time at the Sakhir circuit during pre-season testing but the heat of the day meant the conditions were not relevant to what they would face in the evening qualifying and the grand prix.

Heading back out in the final 30 minutes, Fernando Alonso took the fight to the Mercedes drivers and temporarily took the P1 slot.

However, the Mercs returning to the action it was only a matter of time before Hamilton and Rosberg were back at the front.

The British driver’s 1:37.502 was the time to beat with Rosberg 0.231s adrift. Alonso was a further 0.220s behind.

Nico Hulkenberg was fourth quickest for Force India ahead of Jenson Button, Kimi Raikkonen and Kevin Magnussen.

Daniil Kvyat, Sergio Perez and Sebastian Vettel completed the top ten.

Meanwhile, there were a few debuts for testers further down the grid as Felipe Nasr was in action for Williams, Giedo van der Garde for Caterham and Robin Frinjs for Sauber. Nasr was the best-placed tester in 13th place, 2.576s off the pace.

Times
01 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:37.502 14 laps
02 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:37.733 +0.231 13 laps
03 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:37.953 +0.451 17 laps
04 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:38.122 +0.620 10 laps
05 Jenson Button McLaren 1:38.636 +1.134 16 laps
6 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:38.783 +1.281 12 laps
07 Kevin Magnussen McLaren 1:38.949 +1.447 15 laps
08 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 1:39.056 +1.554 23 laps
09 Sergio Perez Force India 1:39.102 +1.600 21 laps
10 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull 1:39.389 +1.887 16 laps
11 Felipe Massa Williams 1:39.533 +2.031 11 laps
12 Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 1:39.862 +2.360 26 laps
13 Felipe Nasr Williams 1:40.078 +2.576 14 laps
14 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull 1:40.406 +2.904 19 laps
15 Adrian Sutil Sauber 1:40.652 +3.150 20 laps
16 Pastor Maldonado Lotus 1:40.793 +3.291 31 laps
17 Jules Bianchi Marussia 1:40.889 +3.387 20 laps
18 Giedo van der Garde Sauber 1:40.913 +3.411 20 laps
19 Romain Grosjean Lotus 1:41.036 +3.534 24 laps
20 Max Chilton Marussia 1:41.794 +4.292 20 laps
21 Robin Frijns Caterham 1:42.417 +4.915 35 laps
22 Marcus Ericsson Caterham 1:42.711 +5.209 21 laps