2012 BAHRAIN GP: LEWIS HAMILTON FASTEST ON FREE PRACTICE 1 - FORMULA 1

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Friday, April 20, 2012

2012 BAHRAIN GP: LEWIS HAMILTON FASTEST ON FREE PRACTICE 1

Luis set the fastest time on opening free practice 1!!!
Lewis Hamilton set the pace as attention in Bahrain finally turned towards the race track for the first practice session of the grand prix weekend. Hamilton's time of 1:33.572 was 0.305s faster than his nearest competitor, Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel, in what was a fairly routine session.

The only team to break the mould was Force India, which opted to use soft tyres, the compound usually reserved for second practice, towards the end of the session and set the third fastest time with Paul di Resta. But there were just a handful of spectators in the grandstands to witness it, as several journalists reported beefed up secuirty on the way in to the circuit.

As expected, the teams were greeted with warm track temperatures, 27 degrees C and rising, but just as predictable was the surface layer of sand on the asphalt that prompted one team to dismissively say the morning's runs as nothing more than 'dust surveys'. It led to a slow start to the morning.
Pos     Driver                Team                Time        Gap   Laps
 1. Lewis Hamilton        McLaren-Mercedes       1:33.572           11
 2. Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault       1:33.877  + 0.305  21
 3. Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes   1:34.150  + 0.578  26
 4. Nico Rosberg          Mercedes               1:34.249  + 0.677  23
 5. Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes       1:34.277  + 0.705  14
 6. Nico Hulkenberg       Force India-Mercedes   1:34.344  + 0.772  26
 7. Michael Schumacher    Mercedes               1:34.483  + 0.911  17
 8. Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault       1:34.552  + 0.980  22
 9. Kimi Raikkonen        Lotus-Renault          1:34.609  + 1.037  17
10. Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault          1:34.847  + 1.275  20
11. Sergio Perez          Sauber-Ferrari         1:35.024  + 1.452  22
12. Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Renault       1:35.268  + 1.696  24
13. Fernando Alonso       Ferrari                1:35.436  + 1.864  21
14. Valtteri Bottas       Williams-Renault       1:35.497  + 1.925  24
15. Felipe Massa          Ferrari                1:35.719  + 2.147  19
16. Kamui Kobayashi       Sauber-Ferrari         1:35.929  + 2.357  24
17. Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Ferrari     1:36.195  + 2.623  20
18. Heikki Kovalainen     Caterham-Renault       1:36.330  + 2.758  11
19. Vitaly Petrov         Caterham-Renault       1:36.484  + 2.912  18
20. Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari     1:36.591  + 3.019  20
21. Charles Pic           Marussia-Cosworth      1:37.467  + 3.895  17
22. Timo Glock            Marussia-Cosworth      1:38.006  + 4.434  18
23. Pedro de la Rosa      HRT-Cosworth           1:38.877  + 5.305  19
24. Narain Karthikeyan    HRT-Cosworth           1:39.996  + 6.424  23