Oscar Piastri led Lando Norris to a McLaren one-two in Friday practice at the Bahrain Grand Prix.
Piastri was 0.154 seconds quicker than Norris while Mercedes’ George Russell was 0.527secs behind the Australian in third place, ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.
Mercedes’ Andrea Kimi Antonelli was fifth fastest, from Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton.
Briton Oliver Bearman was ninth fastest in the Haas ahead of Williams’ Carlos Sainz.
McLaren also appeared to have an advantage on long-run pace, ahead of Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari.
The sessions were relatively incident-free on a track with which the teams were familiar after three days of pre-season testing a month and a half ago.
And the impression from testing, that McLaren had an advantage around the Sakhir International Circuit, continued on the first day of the grand prix meeting.
McLaren also headed the first practice session, with Norris ahead of Alpine’s Pierre Gasly as six teams ran young drivers in their cars.
More to follow
