First free practice Bahrain: Verstappen sixth, Ferrari fastest

Published on 17 April 2015 by Mike Motilall

Friday afternoon saw the first free practice on the Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir. Kimi Raikkonen, driving for Ferrari, was the quickest. His team mate Sebastian Vettel was second, trailing him by just two tenths. Max Verstappen finished sixth with a decent 1:38.504. Eleven drivers were to be found in just one single second.

When Verstappen heads out for the first time, he is watched by his father, mother and sister Victoria. He notes a 1:41.891, but improves this rather quickly to a 1:40.126. At that moment good enough for eighth, just forty-two-thousandths behind his Scuderia Toro Rosso-team mate Carlos Sainz.

The session is over within four minutes for Jenson Button: the Brit is forced to exit his McLaren-Honda upon spinning in the first corner, after the straight, when his engine abruptly stopped. He is not seen any more for the remainder of the practice session. Vettel reports a loss of power from his Ferrari and is advised by the team to slowly make it back to the pits. It appears the German is in for an engine change.

After half an hour, when the first set of tyres are to be handed over, the Ferrari’s are calling the shots with Kimi Raikkonen leading with a 1:38.917. Max and Sainz are respectively eleventh and tenth.

With some 40 minutes to go, the guys get their heads down. Alonso passes the Ferrari's and not much later Max Verstappen tops the leaderboard with a 1:38.504. He does this at the beginning of a long run. After that, Daniel Ricciardo and Valtteri Bottas als note some faster times, leaving the Dutchman third for quite a while. At the end of the session only Sainz, Vettel and Raikkonen are virtually playing leapfrog with Max, leaving the youngster on the sixth spot.

Mercedes did not bother to show their true speed: Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton ended this practice session respectively fifteenth and sixteenth.

This weekend the drivers, like in Australia and China, can choose from the medium and soft compound tyres. All the drivers used the medium compound to clock their fastest time. Romain Grosjean was not to be seen in this session, once again he had to relinquish his car to rookie driver Jolyon Palmer. In the second free practice session, the Frenchman will reclaim his place in the Lotus again.

Bahrain Grand Prix – Bahrain International Circuit – Friday 17 April

 FREE PRACTICE 1
 P No Driver 		Team 			Time 	 Gap   Laps 
 1  7 Kimi Raikkonen 	Ferrari 		1:37.827       13 
 2  5 Sebastian Vettel 	Ferrari 		1:38.029 0.202 12 
 3 77 Valtteri Bottas 	Williams 		1:38.390 0.563 23 
 4 55 Carlos Sainz 	Toro Rosso 		1:38.447 0.620 14 
 5  3 Daniel Ricciardo 	Red Bull Racing 	1:38.455 0.628 17 
 6 33 Max Verstappen 	Toro Rosso 		1:38.504 0.677 22 
 7 14 Fernando Alonso 	McLaren 		1:38.598 0.771 18 
 8 12 Felipe Nasr 	Sauber 			1:38.628 0.801 17 
 9 26 Daniil Kvyat 	Red Bull Racing		1:38.661 0.834 17 
10 19 Felipe Massa 	Williams 		1:38.790 0.963 21 
11 11 Sergio Perez 	Force India 		1:38.793 0.966 15 
12 13 Pastor Maldonado 	Lotus 			1:38.842 1.015 23 
13 27 Nico Hulkenberg 	Force India 		1:39.187 1.360 20 
14 30 Jolyon Palmer 	Lotus 			1:39.283 1.456 31 
15  6 Nico Rosberg 	Mercedes 		1:39.293 1.466 23 
16 44 Lewis Hamilton 	Mercedes 		1:39.532 1.705 22 
17  9 Marcus Ericsson 	Sauber 			1:39.534 1.707 21 
18 28 Will Stevens 	Marussia 		1:42.973 5.146 12 
19 98 Roberto Merhi 	Marussia 		1:44.265 6.438 15 
20 22 Jenson Button 	McLaren 		No time         2 

Via Twitter and Facebook we'll keep you updated throughout the weekend followed by a full report on Verstappen.nl at the end of the day’s action. You can find the schedule for the Bahrain Grand Prix here. Don't forget to check out the weekend’s photo album.