Hamilton takes a serene Mercedes double in EL1 to Sakhir

If you thought that Lewis Hamilton was going to slow down once the title was in their pocket, it's obviously not for now. The pilot Mercedes indeed dominates Free Practice 1 of the Bahrain Grand Prix, contested in cool weather conditions for the region with “only” 26,7°C in the air and a few traces of rain before the session. 

Hamilton sets a time of 1'29''033 and is ahead of his teammate Valtteri Bottas of 0”449. Note that none of the Étoile drivers have worn the soft Pirelli rubber. 

The Black Arrows precede the Racing Point of Sergio Pérez, who still does not have a steering wheel for next year and is almost a full second behind the leading Mercedes. The Mexican eclipses the McLaren de Carlos Sainz in one breath, barely 18 thousandths. 

On a track that he particularly likes and where he revealed himself in 2018, Pierre Gasly gets a nice 5th time, ahead of both Red Bull from the parent stable, Max Verstappen before Alexander albon. 

Esteban Ocon is the highest ranked representative Renault with the 8th mark. His teammate Daniel Ricciardo emerges two rows further. The R.S.20s frame the Racing Point of the Istanbul poleman Lance stroll. 

Discreet session for Ferrari : Charles Leclerc et Sebastian Vettel have to settle for 11th and 12th places, ahead of Robert Kubica, who replaced Kimi Räikkönen at Alfa Romeo during these EL1. 

Romain Grosjean takes the 14th time and precedes his teammate Kevin Magnussen, while the Williams de Nicholas latifi and Roy Nissany, who replaced George Russell this afternoon in Sakhir, bring up the rear more than 3 full seconds from the first benchmark of the weekend. 

The second free session should provide more lessons because it will take place in night conditions that are more representative and close to those encountered in the race and in qualifying. EL2 will begin at 18:00 p.m. local time, or 16 p.m. in mainland France. 

FP1 CLASSIFICATION

Lots of laps in first practice, with the Mercedes duo at the top! Now we await sundown in Bahrain #BahrainGP  #F1 pic.twitter.com/hOpDNekuT5

— Formula 1 (@F1) November 27, 2020