RB and McLaren were only joined by Sauber in running the softs in FP1, which ended with Yuki Tsunoda fourth ahead of Fernando Alonso and Max Verstappen in fifth and sixth for Aston Martin and Red Bull respectively.
Most of the pack headed out immediately at the start of the one-hour session where windy conditions prevailed in relatively cool temperatures for F1’s visit to the Sakhir track in the high teens, with all the early running conducted on the medium tyres – the C2 variety at last weekend’s test.
The high number of cars on track early meant the lead changed hands rapidly through the first phase, before Verstappen took command at the top.
The Dutchman had been held in the pits longest of all before he joined the fray with the end of the opening 10 minutes remaining.
He duly shot to the top of the times with his first effort – a 1m33.900s compared to the 1m38.955 that Haas driver Nico Hulkenberg had established as the opening benchmark as he led the pack out then pits initially.
The pack continued to pound around through the opening phase, with both Red Bull drivers making brief visits to the pits for front wing flap adjustments to aid their handling, as Verstappen in particular was complaining his RB20 initially felt “miles off”.
After the Mercedes pair had continued to find time as their opening runs continued, Hamilton got to 0.025s of Verstappen’s leading time before Russell deposed the world champion with a 1m33.749s.
Source: Autosport