Lando Norris kicked off Friday at Formula 1's Bahrain Grand Prix by topping an opening practice session that featured six FP1-only rookies.
McLaren did the most soft tyre running in FP1 of any of the frontrunners, with Norris topping the session on a 1m33.204s.
Last time F1 was at the Sakhir circuit for pre-season testing, Alpine appeared to be the class of the midfield, only to go point-less in 2025's first three rounds.
Its weekend has started well with Pierre Gasly's Alpine within a quarter of a second of Norris's benchmark, but this is one of the most unrepresentative FP1 sessions of the season, given the daytime conditions and the absence of the likes of Max Verstappen, Charles Leclerc and George Russell.
How the rookies got on
With conditions not representative of qualifying or the race and this being the same venue as pre-season testing, Bahrain FP1 proved to be a popular choice for teams to tick off one of the four mandatory rookie practice outings for a driver who hasn't made more than one grand prix start.
Six teams chose to run an FP1-only rookie with Williams junior Luke Browning the fastest of them in 13th place, 1.6s off the pace and nine tenths adrift of Williams regular Alex Albon.
Browning also survived a lairy moment at Turn 13 on a flying lap where he found a slow-moving Albon in his path. Albon made a sudden dart to the inside at the same time Browning did, and the pair narrowly avoided an embarrassing intra-team collision.
They'll visit the stewards after the session for an impeding investigation.
Next fastest was Ferrari protege Dino Beganovic, who was making his F1 practice debut, having made a low-key F1 test bow in January.
He was 1.3s slower than Lewis Hamilton and helped Ferrari to make a back-to-back comparison of its new floor.
Beganovic ran the old floor at the start of the session, with Hamilton running the new one, which he hopes will cure the bizarre "deficit" to Charles Leclerc he reported at Suzuka. Hamilton ended up third.
FP1 rookies vs team-mates
Browning (13th) 0.9s slower than Albon (4th)
Beganovic (14th) 1.3s slower than Hamilton (3rd)
Drugovich (16th) 0.1s slower than Stroll (15th)
Hirakawa (17th) 1.1s slower than Ocon (5th)
Vesti (18th) 2.7s faster than Antonelli (20th, compromised by problem)
Iwasa (19th) 1.0s slower than Tsunoda (9th)
Felipe Drugovich was 16th fastest, lapping just 0.082s slower than regular Aston Martin driver Lance Stroll.
Ryo Hirakawa was 17th fastest, this Friday driving for Haas having made an abrupt departure from Alpine after his Suzuka FP1 run for that team.
He was two seconds off the pace in Ollie Bearman’s car and 1.1s adrift of Esteban Ocon, who complained of a steering issue early in the session.
Frederik Vesti made his first FP1 appearance with Mercedes since Abu Dhabi 2023, having become the team's rookie driver of choice again after Kimi Antonelli's promotion to a race seat for 2025.
Antonelli lost the majority of FP1 to an problem, having reported a power issue and returned to the Mercedes garage early in the session.
Super Formula championship leader Ayumu Iwasa was 19th quickest in Max Verstappen's Red Bull, his first F1 practice appearance in the senior team, having done two FP1s for Racing Bulls.
The regulars
Hamilton was third fastest with the new Ferrari floor with a late soft tyre run that left him almost six tenths adrift of Norris's benchmark.
Albon was fourth for Williams ahead of Ocon and Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg, who was an impressive sixth, albeit over one second adrift.
Having reported a "shocking" balance aboard his Racing Bulls car, Liam Lawson later posted the eighth-fastest time just behind Jack Doohan’s Alpine.
The top 10 was completed by Yuki Tsunoda's Red Bull and McLaren's Oscar Piastri, who made a mistake on his soft tyre run and so set his fastest time on the mediums.
FP1 times
1 Lando Norris (McLaren), 1m33.204s
2 Pierre Gasly (Alpine), +0.238s
3 Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari), +0.596s
4 Alex Albon (Williams), +0.724s
5 Esteban Ocon (Haas), +0.980s
6 Nico Hulkenberg (Sauber), +1.058s
7 Jack Doohan (Alpine), +1.192s
8 Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls), +1.193s
9 Yuki Tsunoda (Red Bull), +1.280s
10 Oscar Piastri (McLaren), +1.304s
11 Gabriel Bortoleto (Sauber), +1.424s
12 Isack Hadjar (Racing Bulls), +1.463s
13 Luke Browning (Williams), +1.681s
14 Dino Beganovic (Ferrari), +1.851s
15 Lance Stroll (Aston Martin), +1.912s
16 Felipe Drugovich (Aston Martin), +1.994s
17 Ryo Hirakawa (Haas), +2.057s
18 Frederik Vesti (Mercedes), +2.121s
19 Ayumu Iwasa (Red Bull), +2.271s
20 Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes), +4.847s
