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Newly-crowned seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton topped the opening practice session for the Bahrain Grand Prix.
Hamilton, who wrapped up the 2020 title in Turkey two weeks ago, was in familiar territory at the top of the timesheets with a fastest lap of 1:29.033. The time left him 0.4s clear of his Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas at the end of the session in what is likely to be another Mercedes-dominated weekend.
The session took place in dry conditions despite a brief rain storm in the desert on Friday morning, but was not representative of the conditions for Sunday’s race, which will take place after sunset and under floodlights.
Most teams took the opportunity to run test items and were given their first opportunity to run the definitive specification of tyres for next year. Pirelli has supplied two sets of the C3 compound 2021 tyres to the teams, which can be used over both Friday practice sessions and must be used for at least six laps in second practice.
The tyres are designed to run at lower pressures than this year’s rubber with the aim of minimising complaints about the compounds overheating next year. For the teams it was also important to gain information about the new construction of the tyre, which will impact the revised aerodynamic design of their 2021 cars.
Sergio Perez finished the session third fastest for Racing Point ahead of Carlos Sainz’s McLaren and Pierre Gasly’s Alpha Tauri. Racing Point and McLaren are in an intense battle for third place in the championship — worth tens of millions of dollars — along with Renault and Ferrari.
However, the combination of test items and 2021 tyres meant the session results were even harder to read than normal, with Max Verstappen and Alex Albon sixth and seventh for Red Bull and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel down in 11th and 12th.
Leclerc and Verstappen both suffered spins during the session along with Romain Grosjean, who lost control of his Haas in the high-speed Turn 7 and came closest to making contact with the barrier.
The second Friday practice session will take place under the lights and is likely to be more representative of the competitive order this weekend.