Bahrain FP1 Report: Perez on top ahead of Alonso

Sergio Perez took P1, with a laptime of 1.32.758.

Finally....F1 is back - properly! The first FP1 session of the season showed some interesting results, although Red Bull looks ominous as ever ahead of the Bahrain GP weekend.

Sergio Perez beat out Fernando Alonso to P1, with a gap of almost four and a half tenths to the Spanish driver. However, current champion Max Verstappen was over 6-tenths off his teammate, with a performance unlike his usual dominant force showcased last year.

Despite a rocky 3-day test, McLaren's Lando Norris managed to bag a P4, with a 1.34.165, still over 1.4 seconds off Perez. This was then followed by Charles Leclerc, although the true pace of the Ferrari is believed to be that of the second fastest car. Leclerc was the fastest driver on the C4 medium tires.

An impressive recovery driver from Lance Stroll saw him land an impressive P6, despite minor surgery on broken wrists injured just a few weeks ago. The pace of the AMR23 is looking promising, with the possibility of beating Mercedes looming larger and larger.

Kevin Magnussen pulled a P7 from his VF-23, followed by the pair of Alfa Romeos, with Zhou Guanyu beating out mullet-man himself, Valterri Bottas.

The top 10 was rounded out by Lewis Hamilton in the W14, followed by George Russel in P11. Neither Brit opted for the soft compound of tyre, both choosing to use the hard and medium compounds respectively.

Rookie Oscar Piastri had a large snap of oversteer during the session when he hit the apex curb of T7, however, managed to recover his MCL60 in the large amount of runoff. There is a lot of pressure for Piastri to perform out of the blocks, after his antics between Alpine and McLaren last year.

Followed by Piastri was Yuki Tsunoda, using the soft compound in P13. Nico Hulkenberg put in a performance worthy of P14, in front of Alpine driver Esteban Ocon. Tsunoda's rookie teammate, Nyck de Vries, took P16 with a 1.35.402. Pierre Gasly then came in 17th, with many Alpine fans worried that A523 will not be competitive as last season's car, despite Otmar's and the driver's reassurances.

The William's duo then followed, with American rookie Logan Sargent beating out star teammate Alex Albon for P18. P20 was taken by Carlos Sainz, whose laps were not representative of his true pace at all. The Spanish driver had a spin in T9, completing a full pirouette.

FP1 results ↓

1. Sergio Perez - 1:32.758

2. Fernando Alonso - 1:33.196 (+0.438)

3. Max Verstappen - 1:33.375 (+0.617)

4. Lando Norris - 1:34.165 (+1.407)

5. Charles Leclerc - 1:34.257 (+1.499

6. )Lance Stroll - 1:34.298 (+1.540)

7. KevinMagnussen - 1:34.402 (+1.644)

8. Zhou Guanyu - 1:34.575 (+1.817)

9. Valtteri Bottas - 1:34.689 (+1.931)

10. Lewis Hamilton - 1:34.917 (+2.159)

11. George Russel - 1:34.966 (+2.208)

12. Oscar Piastri - 1:34.997 (+2.239)

13. Yuki Tsunoda - 1:35.015 (+2.257)

14. Nico Hulkenberg - 1:35.043 (+2.285)

15. Esteban Ocon - 1:35.105 (+2.347)

16. Nyck De Vries - 1:35.402 (+2.644)

17. Pierre Gasly - 1:35.455 (+2.697)

18. Logan Sargeant - 1:35.749 (+2.991)

19. Alex Albon - 1:36.018 (+3.260)

20. Carlos Sainz - 1:36.072 (+3.314)

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