Bahrain Grand Prix FP1: Everything you need to know

Max Verstappen set the pace in the first free practice session of the Formula 1 season ahead of this weekend’s Bahrain Grand Prix.

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Key moments:

> Verstappen outpaces Mercedes’ Bottas by 0.298s
> Norris spends more than 15 minutes fastest for McLaren
> Busy start to the shortened 60-minute session
> Interesting new floor design for Aston Martin
> Quiet session for Alpine

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Verstappen set the fastest time of 1m31.394s in the final five minutes of the session, knocking Bottas back to second place shortly after the Mercedes went fastest.

Before that, McLaren’s Lando Norris had a spell at the top of the order, with his team-mate Daniel Ricciardo third at that point before dropping to ninth by the end.

Norris ended the session third, just ahead of Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.

The shorter 60-minute session is new for 2021, and it resulted in a busy start, with the four cars from Mercedes and Red Bull setting the early pace.

Three of those four cars were in the top four by the end, with the second Red Bull of Sergio Perez sixth just ahead of the AlphaTauri of Pierre Gasly.

Alfa Romeo had a strong start to the weekend with Antonio Giovinazzi and Kimi Raikkonen 10th and 11th, just ahead of the two Aston Martins of Sebastian Vettel and Lance Stroll – whose cars were sporting an interesting new floor design.

The two Alpines were slightly further back after a low-key session for the team. After half an hour Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon were both at the bottom of the times despite logging a reasonable amount of laps, and once they upped the pace their best times left them 15th (Ocon) and 16th (Alonso). The team tweeted that it was “focused on aero, followed by longer runs”

In the battle at the back of the field, the two Williams drivers outpaced Haas rookies Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin, who brought up the rear.

Practice 1 Results