11/04/2025 14:32
Yuki Tsunoda, Alex Albon and Luke Browning are all under
investigation by the Bahrain Grand Prix stewards after an
entertaining first practice session. With the Bahrain International
Circuit familiar to the more experienced drivers, six teams took
the opportunity to offer their reserves an F1 outing. In recent
years, a driver has been forced to miss just a single FP1. This
year, it is two, so Red Bull's Max Verstappen, Charles Leclerc at
Ferrari, Williams' Carlos Sainz, George Russell for Mercedes, Aston
Martin's Fernando Alonso, and Ollie Bearman with Haas, all sat out
the session. For one of the reserves, Luke Browning with Williams,
the young British driver was involved in a near-miss moment with
team-mate Albon. Late in the session, with Browning on a flyer, he
approached a slow Albon, only for the latter to turn in toward a
corner that forced Browning to take evasive action. Albon is under
investigation for impeding. Albon was also involved in the second
incident the stewards will review due to unsafe release into the
path of Yuki Tsunoda in his Red Bull. Rather than braking and
staying behind Albon, Tsunoda opted to go around, leading to a
member of the Stake team jumping out of the way. The session was
conducted in searing heat and barely representative of the
conditions in the early evening when qualifying and the grand prix
will take place. The track temperature hovered around 48, with the
air at 35. By the conclusion, McLaren's Lando finished quickest
with a lap of 1:33.204s, 0.238s ahead of Alpine's Pierre Gasly.
more follows Throughout the session, it appeared no driver was
happy, with their car with plenty of complaints over the radio on a
range of issues. The worst one was for Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli,
though, who had only completed three laps before returning to the
garage with a water pressure issue that confined him to the garage
for the remainder. Over the opening 30 minutes, before the soft
tyre runs began in earnest, Williams' Alex Albon was quickest on
the medium tyres, pipping Norris by 0.066s with a lap of 1:35.185s.
Gabriel Bortoleto was the first driver to turn to the softs,
soaring to the top of the timesheet with a lap of 1:34.628s, over
half a second up on Albon, although the Brazilian's time at the top
was shortlived as team-mate Nico Hulkenberg went 0.366s quicker.
Piastri should have taken over only to make a mistake in the final
corner, and instead, it was Alpine's Pierre Gasly who delivered a
superb 1:33.442s before Norris had the final say. Lewis Hamilton,
in a Ferrari sporting a new floor as part of a considerable upgrade
package on the car for this weekend, moved up to third late on,
albeit almost six-tenths of a second down, with Albon fourth ahead
of Haas' Esteban Ocon and Hulkenberg. Of the reserves, with all of
them data gathering for the most part, Browning was quickest, 13th
on the timesheet, followed by Dino Berganovic for Ferrari. Aston
Martin's Felipe Drugovich was 16th, 0.082s behind team-mate Lance
Stroll. Ryo Hirakawa, who drove in FP1 for Alpine last week before
a move to Haas, was 17th, ahead of Mercedes' Frederik Vesti, and
Verstappen stand-in Ayumu Iwasa.
