Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso led a Ferrari 1-2 in the first free practice session for the Bahrain Grand Prix. In the afternoon, Kimi Raikkonen put Lotus on top of the timing sheets.
FP1
Felipe Massa – a two-time winner of the Bahrain Grand Prix - set his fastest time of 1m34.487, almost an hour into the session ahead of his teammate by a fractional 0.77s, as teams chose to focus their attention on tire duration and heavy fuel-loads around the dusty Sakhir circuit.
The times set by the scarlet cars is a mirror image of FP2 in last weekend’s Chinese Grand Prix and signifies the F138 is a pace-setter in its own right. Nico Rosberg once again showed the impressive pace of the Mercedes in third, some 0.134s from the pace of the two Ferraris.
Vettel was fourth, leading the Mercedes powered duo of Force India’s Paul Di Resta and Jenson Button’s McLaren rounding out the top six, after another encouraging performance for the Woking team following their difficult start to the season.
Mark Webber finished seventh in the No. 2 Red Bull, with Sutil splitting the two Lotus’ of Raikkonen and Grosjean in ninth and 10th. The German – up to around 45 minute mark – topped the time sheets and once again underlined the improvements made by Force India over the winter.
Charles Pic outpaced Caterham returnee Heikki Kovalainen to take 19th in an upgraded car and outpace both Marussias, which were 21st with Max Chilton, and 22nd with the team’s reserve driver, Rodolfo Gonzales, who made debut with the team behind the wheel of Jules Bianchi’s car.
Free practice session 1 - Results*
1 - Felipe Massa (Ferrari F138) - 1'34"487 - 11 laps
2 - Fernando Alonso (Ferrari F138) - 1'34"564 - 19
3 - Nico Rosberg (Mercedes W04) - 1'34"621 - 22
4 - Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull RB9-Renault) - 1'34"790 - 20
5 - Paul Di Resta (Force India VJM06-Mercedes) - 1'34"949 - 17
6 - Jenson Button (McLaren MP4/28-Mercedes) - 1'35"069 - 22
7 - Mark Webber (Red Bull RB9-Renault) - 1'35"101 - 19
8 - Adrian Sutil (Force India VJM06-Mercedes) - 1'35"119 - 19
9 - Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus E21-Renault) - 1'35"345 - 17
10 - Romain Grosjean (Lotus E21-Renault) - 1'35"611 - 14
11 - Sergio Perez (McLaren MP4/28-Mercedes) - 1'35"640 - 23
12 - Valtteri Bottas (Williams FW35-Renault) - 1'35"783 - 16
13 - Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes W04) - 1'35"792 - 16
14 - Jean-Eric Vergne (Toro Rosso STR8-Ferrari) - 1'36"014 - 19
15 - Daniel Ricciardo (Toro Rosso STR8-Ferrari) - 1'36"485 - 20
16 - Pastor Maldonado (Williams FW35-Renault) - 1'36"498 - 17
17 - Nico Hulkenberg (Sauber C32-Ferrari) - 1'36"755 - 210
18 - Esteban Gutierrez (Sauber C32-Ferrari) - 1'37"214 - 21
19 - Charles Pic (Caterham CT03-Renault) - 1'37"850 - 20
20 - Heikki Kovalainen (Caterham CT03-Renault) - 1'38"401 - 20
21 - Max Chilton (Marussia MR02-Cosworth) - 1'39"445 - 12
22 - Rodolfo Gonzalez (Marussia MR02-Cosworth) - 1'40"215 - 7
FP2
Kimi Raikkonen set the fastest time of 1m34.254 in FP2 ahead of the Red Bulls, with Webber and Vettel finishing 0.030s and 0.128s behind the Lotus.
Raikkonen was one of the last drivers to sample the medium tires, and some 45 minutes into the session, bolted on the softer compound Pirelli to set his quickest time with a far from perfect lap as teams focussed on long runs as part of their preparation for Sunday’s race.
Fernando Alonso was fourth with a best time of 1m34.310, despite having been quickest from Webber on harder tires earlier in the session. Paul di Resta continued Force India’s strong form in fifth, ahead of Massa and the second Lotus of Romain Grosjean in seventh.
Adrian Sutil split the Mercedes’ of Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton in ninth, whilst McLaren, after showing promise in FP1, struggled with Jenson Button in 11th and Perez in 13th.
At the back of the grid, Charles Pic once again proved to be the quickest of the backmarkers in the revised Caterham, despite suffering an incident with Esteban’s Gutierrez in which the Mexican rookie clipped the Caterham’s front wing at Turn 8.
Pic’s best lap was 1m37.061, which put him ahead of the two Marussias of Chilton and Bianchi, with the Brit outpacing his highly rated teammate.
The second Caterham of Giedo van der Garde propped up the timesheets in 22nd, but the Dutchman does not have the same upgrades as his teammate.
Free practice session 2 - Results*
1 - Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus E21-Renault) - 1'34"154 - 31 laps
2 - Mark Webber (Red Bull RB9-Renault) - 1'34"184 - 26
3 - Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull RB9-Renault) - 1'34"282 - 29
4 - Fernando Alonso (Ferrari F138) - 1'34"310 - 28
5 - Paul Di Resta (Force India VJM06-Mercedes) - 1'34"543 - 35
6 - Felipe Massa (Ferrari F138) - 1'34"552 - 34
7 - Romain Grosjean (Lotus E21-Renault) - 1'34"631 - 33
8 - Nico Rosberg (Mercedes W04) - 1'34"666 - 37
9 - Adrian Sutil (Force India VJM06-Mercedes) - 1'34"932 - 33
10 - Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes W04) - 1'34"976 - 29
11 - Jenson Button (McLaren MP4/28-Mercedes) - 1'35"356 - 32
12 - Jean-Eric Vergne (Toro Rosso STR8-Ferrari) - 1'35"506 - 36
13 - Sergio Perez (McLaren MP4/28-Mercedes) - 1'35"589 - 36
14 - Daniel Ricciardo (Toro Rosso STR8-Ferrari) - 1'35"761 - 33
15 - Nico Hulkenberg (Sauber C32-Ferrari) - 1'36"133 - 36
16 - Pastor Maldonado (Williams FW35-Renault) - 1'36"279 - 33
17 - Valtteri Bottas (Williams FW35-Renault) - 1'36"579 - 28
18 - Esteban Gutierrez (Sauber C32-Ferrari) - 1'36"616 - 34
19 - Charles Pic (Caterham CT03-Renault) - 1'37"061 - 32
20 - Max Chilton (Marussia MR02-Cosworth) - 1'37"313 - 33
21 - Jules Bianchi (Marussia MR02-Cosworth) - 1'37"363 - 29
22 - Giedo Van der Garde (Caterham CT03-Renault) - 1'37"970 - 34
*Unofficial timing
FP1
Felipe Massa – a two-time winner of the Bahrain Grand Prix - set his fastest time of 1m34.487, almost an hour into the session ahead of his teammate by a fractional 0.77s, as teams chose to focus their attention on tire duration and heavy fuel-loads around the dusty Sakhir circuit.
 |
| Felipe Massa, Ferrari. (Photo: WRi2) |
The times set by the scarlet cars is a mirror image of FP2 in last weekend’s Chinese Grand Prix and signifies the F138 is a pace-setter in its own right. Nico Rosberg once again showed the impressive pace of the Mercedes in third, some 0.134s from the pace of the two Ferraris.
Vettel was fourth, leading the Mercedes powered duo of Force India’s Paul Di Resta and Jenson Button’s McLaren rounding out the top six, after another encouraging performance for the Woking team following their difficult start to the season.
Mark Webber finished seventh in the No. 2 Red Bull, with Sutil splitting the two Lotus’ of Raikkonen and Grosjean in ninth and 10th. The German – up to around 45 minute mark – topped the time sheets and once again underlined the improvements made by Force India over the winter.
 |
| Heikki Kovalainen, Caterham-Renault. (Photo: WRi2) |
Charles Pic outpaced Caterham returnee Heikki Kovalainen to take 19th in an upgraded car and outpace both Marussias, which were 21st with Max Chilton, and 22nd with the team’s reserve driver, Rodolfo Gonzales, who made debut with the team behind the wheel of Jules Bianchi’s car.
Free practice session 1 - Results*
1 - Felipe Massa (Ferrari F138) - 1'34"487 - 11 laps
2 - Fernando Alonso (Ferrari F138) - 1'34"564 - 19
3 - Nico Rosberg (Mercedes W04) - 1'34"621 - 22
4 - Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull RB9-Renault) - 1'34"790 - 20
5 - Paul Di Resta (Force India VJM06-Mercedes) - 1'34"949 - 17
6 - Jenson Button (McLaren MP4/28-Mercedes) - 1'35"069 - 22
7 - Mark Webber (Red Bull RB9-Renault) - 1'35"101 - 19
8 - Adrian Sutil (Force India VJM06-Mercedes) - 1'35"119 - 19
9 - Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus E21-Renault) - 1'35"345 - 17
10 - Romain Grosjean (Lotus E21-Renault) - 1'35"611 - 14
11 - Sergio Perez (McLaren MP4/28-Mercedes) - 1'35"640 - 23
12 - Valtteri Bottas (Williams FW35-Renault) - 1'35"783 - 16
13 - Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes W04) - 1'35"792 - 16
14 - Jean-Eric Vergne (Toro Rosso STR8-Ferrari) - 1'36"014 - 19
15 - Daniel Ricciardo (Toro Rosso STR8-Ferrari) - 1'36"485 - 20
16 - Pastor Maldonado (Williams FW35-Renault) - 1'36"498 - 17
17 - Nico Hulkenberg (Sauber C32-Ferrari) - 1'36"755 - 210
18 - Esteban Gutierrez (Sauber C32-Ferrari) - 1'37"214 - 21
19 - Charles Pic (Caterham CT03-Renault) - 1'37"850 - 20
20 - Heikki Kovalainen (Caterham CT03-Renault) - 1'38"401 - 20
21 - Max Chilton (Marussia MR02-Cosworth) - 1'39"445 - 12
22 - Rodolfo Gonzalez (Marussia MR02-Cosworth) - 1'40"215 - 7
 |
| Kimi Raikkonen, Lotus-Renault. (Photo: WRi2) |
FP2
Kimi Raikkonen set the fastest time of 1m34.254 in FP2 ahead of the Red Bulls, with Webber and Vettel finishing 0.030s and 0.128s behind the Lotus.
Raikkonen was one of the last drivers to sample the medium tires, and some 45 minutes into the session, bolted on the softer compound Pirelli to set his quickest time with a far from perfect lap as teams focussed on long runs as part of their preparation for Sunday’s race.
Fernando Alonso was fourth with a best time of 1m34.310, despite having been quickest from Webber on harder tires earlier in the session. Paul di Resta continued Force India’s strong form in fifth, ahead of Massa and the second Lotus of Romain Grosjean in seventh.
Adrian Sutil split the Mercedes’ of Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton in ninth, whilst McLaren, after showing promise in FP1, struggled with Jenson Button in 11th and Perez in 13th.
 |
| Nico Hulkenberg, Sauber-Ferrari. (Photo: WRi2) |
At the back of the grid, Charles Pic once again proved to be the quickest of the backmarkers in the revised Caterham, despite suffering an incident with Esteban’s Gutierrez in which the Mexican rookie clipped the Caterham’s front wing at Turn 8.
Pic’s best lap was 1m37.061, which put him ahead of the two Marussias of Chilton and Bianchi, with the Brit outpacing his highly rated teammate.
The second Caterham of Giedo van der Garde propped up the timesheets in 22nd, but the Dutchman does not have the same upgrades as his teammate.
Free practice session 2 - Results*
1 - Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus E21-Renault) - 1'34"154 - 31 laps
2 - Mark Webber (Red Bull RB9-Renault) - 1'34"184 - 26
3 - Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull RB9-Renault) - 1'34"282 - 29
4 - Fernando Alonso (Ferrari F138) - 1'34"310 - 28
5 - Paul Di Resta (Force India VJM06-Mercedes) - 1'34"543 - 35
6 - Felipe Massa (Ferrari F138) - 1'34"552 - 34
7 - Romain Grosjean (Lotus E21-Renault) - 1'34"631 - 33
8 - Nico Rosberg (Mercedes W04) - 1'34"666 - 37
9 - Adrian Sutil (Force India VJM06-Mercedes) - 1'34"932 - 33
10 - Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes W04) - 1'34"976 - 29
11 - Jenson Button (McLaren MP4/28-Mercedes) - 1'35"356 - 32
12 - Jean-Eric Vergne (Toro Rosso STR8-Ferrari) - 1'35"506 - 36
13 - Sergio Perez (McLaren MP4/28-Mercedes) - 1'35"589 - 36
14 - Daniel Ricciardo (Toro Rosso STR8-Ferrari) - 1'35"761 - 33
15 - Nico Hulkenberg (Sauber C32-Ferrari) - 1'36"133 - 36
16 - Pastor Maldonado (Williams FW35-Renault) - 1'36"279 - 33
17 - Valtteri Bottas (Williams FW35-Renault) - 1'36"579 - 28
18 - Esteban Gutierrez (Sauber C32-Ferrari) - 1'36"616 - 34
19 - Charles Pic (Caterham CT03-Renault) - 1'37"061 - 32
20 - Max Chilton (Marussia MR02-Cosworth) - 1'37"313 - 33
21 - Jules Bianchi (Marussia MR02-Cosworth) - 1'37"363 - 29
22 - Giedo Van der Garde (Caterham CT03-Renault) - 1'37"970 - 34
*Unofficial timing