Leclerc leads Ferrari one-two after FP1 in Bahrain

Charles Leclerc topped the times in the sunshine of Bahrain to top first practice from teammate Sebastian Vettel as Ferrari looks to bounce back from the disappointment of Melbourne.

Multiple cars ventured out on track immediately as the light went green, Antonio Giovinazzi the first man onto the circuit.

Red Bull reportedly already had an issue on their hands before leaving the garage, a hydraulic issue was found on Max Verstappen’s car before the light went green for the start of the session that needed addressing, but he was on track soon after.

As the circuit isn’t used often outside of race weekends, the surface was very green with sand and dust being kicked up in the pitlane in particular, perhaps the reason why no team was eager to get serious running underway.

Verstappen was the first driver to set a time in the session, a steady 1:33.085s the first time on the board.

With just over an hour remaining of the session, the track began to fill once more and lap times began to flood in with Valtteri Bottas going 0.6s clear of anybody on his first run.

Lance Stroll was the first to fall victim to the track conditions and pitched his car into a spin on the exit of turn four, damaging the endplate of his front wing.

Ferrari’s first runs put them P2 and P3 behind Bottas with Leclerc leading the way before Vettel put his SF90 in first.

Both Ferrari drivers continued to post serious improvements to further the gap to those behind.

Alexander Albon put an impressive time in to go P6 however he did catch a tow out of the last corner from Verstappen.

While his teammate was up in fifth, Pierre Gasly was struggling on the hard tyres down in 14th place, a scruffy lap followed by complaints over team radio about engine braking.

With just under half the session remaining, Red Bull took the opportunity of an empty track to get some running in themselves with Verstappen going fastest on the soft tyres with Gasly following his improvement shortly after to go third fastest.

Second runs began to filter in with Bottas putting himself fastest once again. Teammate Lewis Hamilton ran very wide on his lap having set the fastest sector two time of all.

Both Ferrari drivers looked rapid on their second runs to restore the one-two, this time Leclerc setting the pace with a 1:30.354s, a quarter of a second quicker than his teammate and almost a full second quicker than Mercedes.

Pace from most of the drivers indicated that tyres dropped off after a single hot lap and wouldn’t hold on for a second attempt with a cool off lap in between.

Although Ferrari appears lightning fast, they will be hoping their advantage holds as the sun sets in Bahrain and conditions become more familiar to those experienced during the race.

Small dramas began popping up in the final moments of the session, Romain Grosjean damaging his front wing and brief contact between Giovinazzi and Nico Hulkenberg put a bizarre twist on the afternoon as the session ended.