Sutil heads Bahrain free practice one
Adrian Sutil was fastest in the first session of the year driving the VJM03
Adrian Sutil put Force India at the top of the times sheets at following free practice one at Bahrain.
Ferrari and McLaren also headed the times during the 90-minute session with Fernando Alonso ending the session second quickest ahead of the man who replaced him at Renault, Robert Kubica.
The three new teams struggled to find the pace on the extended Bahrain circuit. The two Lotus drivers many several laps but at Virgin only Timo Glock was able to set a time.
Neither HRT car managed a time either. Karun Chandhok spent the entire session in the pits while Bruno Senna went out for just three laps. On his final tour of the circuit he was 15 seconds off the pace over the first two sectors.
Bahrain Grand Prix free practice 1 times
| Position | Car number | Driver | Car | Best lap | Laps | |
| 1 | 14 | Adrian Sutil | Force India-Mercedes | 1’56.583 | 18 | |
| 2 | 8 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1’56.766 | 0.183 | 18 |
| 3 | 11 | Robert Kubica | Renault | 1’57.041 | 0.458 | 19 |
| 4 | 7 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 1’57.055 | 0.472 | 19 |
| 5 | 1 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 1’57.068 | 0.485 | 19 |
| 6 | 2 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes | 1’57.163 | 0.58 | 19 |
| 7 | 15 | Vitantonio Liuzzi | Force India-Mercedes | 1’57.194 | 0.611 | 19 |
| 8 | 4 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1’57.199 | 0.616 | 15 |
| 9 | 6 | Mark Webber | Red Bull-Renault | 1’57.255 | 0.672 | 17 |
| 10 | 3 | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes | 1’57.662 | 1.079 | 16 |
| 11 | 17 | Jaime Alguersuari | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 1’57.722 | 1.139 | 18 |
| 12 | 10 | Nico Hülkenberg | Williams-Cosworth | 1’57.894 | 1.311 | 20 |
| 13 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull-Renault | 1’57.943 | 1.36 | 17 |
| 14 | 16 | Sebastien Buemi | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 1’58.399 | 1.816 | 13 |
| 15 | 9 | Rubens Barrichello | Williams-Cosworth | 1’58.782 | 2.199 | 11 |
| 16 | 12 | Vitaly Petrov | Renault | 1’58.880 | 2.297 | 13 |
| 17 | 22 | Pedro de la Rosa | Sauber-Ferrari | 2’00.250 | 3.667 | 18 |
| 18 | 23 | Kamui Kobyashi | Sauber-Ferrari | 2’01.388 | 4.805 | 11 |
| 19 | 24 | Timo Glock | Virgin-Cosworth | 2’03.680 | 7.097 | 8 |
| 20 | 19 | Heikki Kovalainen | Lotus-Cosworth | 2’03.848 | 7.265 | 21 |
| 21 | 18 | Jarno Trulli | Lotus-Cosworth | 2’03.970 | 7.387 | 15 |
| 22 | 25 | Lucas di Grassi | Virgin-Cosworth | 2 | ||
| 23 | 21 | Bruno Senna | HRT-Cosworth | 3 | ||
| 24 | 20 | Karun Chandhok | HRT-Cosworth | 0 |
More analysis of the practice times later today at F1 Fanatic.
Icthyes said on 12th March 2010, 13:11
F1 is back, and so is Friday Pratice: nice, suspicious surprises, as well as shades of things to come. We missed you, F1!