Ricciardo leads Bahrain FP1 as issue sidelines Verstappen
Daniel Ricciardo made an impressive start to the Bahrain Grand Prix race weekend by topping the first Formula 1 practice on Friday morning at the Bahrain International Circuit, finishing the session three-tenths of a second clear of the pack.
In a mixed session for Red Bull that saw Max Verstappen complete just two laps after an electrical issue caused his car to stop on-track, Ricciardo was able to lead the team’s charge and take P1 with a fast lap on the Soft compound tyre with 15 minutes to go in the session.
Daniel Ricciardo made an impressive start to the Bahrain Grand Prix race weekend by topping the first Formula 1 practice on Friday morning at the Bahrain International Circuit, finishing the session three-tenths of a second clear of the pack.
In a mixed session for Red Bull that saw Max Verstappen complete just two laps after an electrical issue caused his car to stop on-track, Ricciardo was able to lead the team’s charge and take P1 with a fast lap on the Soft compound tyre with 15 minutes to go in the session.
A best time of 1:31.060 saw Ricciardo finished three-tenths of a second ahead of Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas, who led for much of the session after edging out the Ferrari duo of Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel by one-tenth of a second.
With the Ferraris taking P3 and P4 at the chequered flag, defending world champion Lewis Hamilton finished a lowly fifth after locking up at Turn 10 on his fast lap, causing his tyres to wear rapidly that meant he could not improve his time.
Haas continued its impressive form from Australia early in Bahrain as Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen finished P6 and P9 respectively. The pair were split by Pierre Gasly and Carlos Sainz Jr. for Toro Rosso and Renault, while Nico Hulkenberg completed the top 10.
Fernando Alonso took 11th for McLaren, with teammate Stoffel Vandoorne finishing two places back in 13th. Charles Leclerc was able to impress en route to 12th for Sauber, recovering from an early spin at Turn 6 after a snap of oversteer.
Lance Stroll also had a brief off-track excursion early on as he finished 14th ahead of Williams teammate Sergey Sirotkin and Toro Rosso’s Brendon Hartley in P16.
Marcus Ericsson finished 17th for Sauber ahead of Force India drivers Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon, while Verstappen propped up the timesheets for Red Bull, with the team confirming an electrical issue on his power unit had been the cause of the stoppage.
Practice continues in Bahrain at 4pm BST.
