George Russell seized his moment as Lewis Hamilton’s replacement, grabbing his first practice P1 at the Sakhir GP and recording F1’s shortest ever lap time, 54.5s.
The previous shortest lap time was Niki Lauda with a 58.79s in 1974, at the Dijon-Prenois circuit in a Ferrari.
Formula 1 stepped into the unknown on Friday as the 20 drivers took to the Bahrain International Circuit’s outer oval for the first time ever. And three of them were in new cars.
Charles Leclerc had the first notable moment of the evening as he went wide at Turn 4, tried to carry the speed through 5 and went off, eating dirt on he made his way back onto the track. Shortly after Pierre Gasly was seen completing his lap with one hand on the steering wheel and the other holding onto his right wing mirror which had come loose of the supporting strut.
Esteban Ocon took seventh for Renault ahead of Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, with their respective team-mates Daniel Ricciardo and Charles Leclerc completing the top 10. Sebastian’s personal best lap time from FP1 was a 0:55.281, while Charles was almost two tenths slower than the German driver.
Times
1 George Russell Mercedes 0:54.546
2 Max Verstappen Red Bull 0.176s
3 Alex Albon Red Bull 0.265s
4 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 0.322s
5 Daniil Kvyat AlphaTauri 0.465s
6 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri 0.620s
7 Esteban Ocon Renault 0.727s
8 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 0.735s
9 Daniel Ricciardo Renault 0.833s
10 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 0.903s
11 Lance Stroll Racing Point 1.012s
12 Sergio Perez Racing Point 1.170s
13 Carlos Sainz McLaren 1.211s
14 Kimi Raikkonen Alfa Romeo Racing 1.237s
15 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo Racing 1.312s
16 Lando Norris McLaren 1.532s
17 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1.584s
18 Nicholas Latifi Williams 2.218s
19 Pietro Fittipaldi Haas 2.531s
20 Jack Aitken Williams 2.641s
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