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
