World championship leader Lando Norris topped the timesheets in a baking hot opening practice ahead of Alpine's Pierre Gasly at the Bahrain Grand Prix on Friday.
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It was hunt-some-shade time on a sweltering afternoon in the Gulf kingdom - 35 degrees celsius and track temperature nudging 50 degrees.
Our top three in first practice
— Formula 1 (@F1) April 11, 2025
🥇 Norris
🥈 Gasly
🥉 Hamilton#F1 #BahrainGP pic.twitter.com/rEaTMlKTR9
As a consequence the relevance of the opening session on the rest of the weekend will be minimal, with second practice later Friday, Saturday's qualifying and the race itself all staged at sunset and in cooler temperatures.
That was one main factor in teams using 'FP1' to give a half dozen rookies a shot as a 'Friday driver' as per the governing body's guidelines.
As a result, four-time world champion Max Verstappen, one point adrift of Norris in the driver's standings after his win in Japan last weekend, had some down time with Ayumua Iwasa taking the wheel of his Red Bull.
Dino Beganovic was handed the keys to Charles Leclerc's Ferrari.
Other new faces were Fred Vesti (in for Mercedes' George Russell), Luke Browning (Williams/Carlos Sainz), Felipe Drugovich (Aston Martin/Fernando Alonso) and Ryo Hirakawa, in for Ollie Bearman at Haas.
The chequered flag is out 🏁
— Formula 1 (@F1) April 11, 2025
FP1 TOP 10
Norris
Gasly
Hamilton
Albon
Ocon
Hulkenberg
Doohan
Lawson
Tsunoda
Piastri#F1 #BahrainGP pic.twitter.com/Xr5AoStUDQ
Williams team principal James Vowles explained the reasoning behind running Browning rather than Sainz, third to Verstappen in last year's race for Ferrari.
"It's much, much warmer than it will be so it is unrepresentative, and (Sainz) has done many hundreds of kilometres around here. It's always painful, but it is less painful to run a Friday driver here."
Browning had a scary moment with his temporary teammate Alex Albon, the pair coming close with a quarter of an hour left of the session.
The stewards immediately announced they were investigating the incident and summoned both drivers to appear at an inquiry before second practice.
"Wow that was close," said Drugovich who had a close-up view of the incident in the Aston.
Kimi Antonelli was reporting loss of power in his Mercedes over the team radio early on with the Italian teenaged rookie, who has made such a bright start to his career, forced back into the garage, missing almost the entire session.
'IT FEELS HORRENDOUS'
Ferrari have brought upgrades to Bahrain but Lewis Hamilton was quickly complaining about lack of balance.
With tyre compounds set up for the cooler evening temperatures drivers were complaining of lack of grip.
Liam Lawson described it as "shocking" in his second run out for RB after being demoted by Red Bull.
Hamilton was asked if he wanted to have another lap before a quick return to the pits but the reply was short, sharp and an unambiguous 'no'
"It feels horrendous, mate," said Hamilton.
Alpine, the only team arriving at this desert track still pointless, will have been encouraged by Gasly's effort in jumping to lead the timesheets late on.
But Norris quickly asserted control with a lap of 1min 33.204s, from Gasly at 0.0238
Seven-time champion Hamilton's afternoon improved as he ended up with the third quickest time after switching to the faster softs.
Yuki Tsunoda replaced Lawson as Verstappen's teammate last weekend and the Japanese driver came in ninth ahead of McLaren's Oscar Piastri, winner in China.
NO NEED FOR 'A WAKE-UP CALL' - STELLA
McLaren team chief Andrea Stella has strongly denied Max Verstappen's win in Japan last weekend was "a wake-up call".
"We didn't need any wake-up call, because we were not sleeping," Stella told a press-conference at the Bahrain International circuit on Friday.
"And certainly, we were not dreaming," he continued.
"We were wide awake knowing that if we don't capitalise on the performance of the car, then we will be beaten.
"And if we capitalise, we may win but by a very small margin."
McLaren prised the constructors title away from Red Bull last season and Lando Norris is favourite to stymie Verstappen's quest for a fifth successive world drivers title in 2025.
Norris won the season-opener in Melbourne, with teammate Oscar Piastri following up in China.
But the pair were thwarted by Verstappen at Suzuka, a win that came on the back of one of Verstappen's best-ever qualifying performances to grab pole.
Victory left the Dutch ace just one point behind Norris in the standings going into this weekend's fourth race of the season in Bahrain.
The British marque enjoy a healthy early lead in the defence of their constructors' crown.
But Stella dismissed the notion of 'McLaren dominance' as other teams making mischief.
"I hear talk about dominance sometimes from our competitors," he said.
"Everyone knows how to put pressure or attempt to put pressure on the rivals.
"But we are very grounded people. We are very tough.
"When we get this kind of thing, we know that we have to work hard to exploit the potential of the MCL39."
That said, the 54-year-old Italian acknowledged McLaren are strong this season.
"The MCL39 is certainly a competitive car - it's faster than last year's car that was already fast and reliable.
"Having said that, I think the margins are very small.
"So I think we have to be quite realistic as to the situation in terms of performance."