Friday, 17 April 2015

Raikkonen leads Ferrari 1-2 in Free Practice One in Bahrain

(© Ben Johnston 2015)

Scuderia Ferrari led the way with Kimi Raikkonen topping the timesheets in the opening Practice session ahead of Sunday’s Bahrain Grand Prix. The Finn set a time of 1m 37.827s to finish just ahead of team mate Sebastian Vettel. Vettel recovered well after suffering a technical issue early on in the session which meant he sat out much of the opening session.

The Williams Martini Racing Team’s Valtteri Bottas was third fastest for the Grove based outfit with a fastest time of 1m 38.390s, the Finn ended the session just ahead of the Scuderia Toro Rosso of Carlos Sainz who ended the morning session with a 1m 38.447s just ahead of Infiniti Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo who was fifth while Max Verstappen ended the session in sixth place.

It was a great session for the McLaren Honda of Fernando Alonso who finished the session in seventh place. However it was a disappointing session for Jenson Button’s side of the garage as the 2009 world champion stopped out on track at T1 after going into a spin.

The Sauber F1 Team’s Felipe Nasr was eighth fastest for the Swiss based outfit with a fastest time of 1m 38.628s ending the session just ahead of Daniil Kvyat in the second Red Bull. The Williams Martini Racing Team’s Felipe Massa rounded out the top ten with a time of 1m 38.790s. The Brazilian ended the session just ahead of the Sahara Force India Formula One Team’s Sergio ‘Checco’ Perez.

The Lotus F1 Team’s Pastor Maldonado ended the session just outside the top ten in 12th place in the first of the E23 Hybrid’s. The Venezuelan’s fastest time was a 1m 38.842s ending the session just ahead of the Sahara Force India Formula One Team’s Nico Hulkenberg.

The Lotus F1 Team’s third driver Jolyon Palmer ended the session in 14th place having filled in for Romain Grosjean. The reigning GP2 champion set a fastest time of 1m 39.283s.

The Mercedes AMG PETRONAS F1 Team’s Nico Rosberg ended the session down the order in 15th place with a fastest time of 1m 39.293s ending the session just ahead of team mate and reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton who set a fastest time of 1m 39.532s. The Brackley based outfit are likely to be faster in the second session which gets underway at 4PM (Irish time) which is live on both BBC Two and Sky Sports F1HD.

The Sauber F1 Team’s Marcus Ericsson ended the opening session in 17th place with a fastest time of 1m 39.534s.

The Manor F1 Team’s Will Stevens and Roberto Merhi rounded out the time sheets, while Jenson Button failed to a set a time due to the technical problem with his McLaren MP4-30.

© Ben Johnston 2015

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