Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton finished fastest on the opening day of practice for the 2024 Bahrain Grand Prix.
Hamilton dominated FP2 to finish fastest ahead of Mercedes teammate, George Russell and Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso in a competitive start to the new season.
Racing Bulls’ Daniel Ricciardo meanwhile topped an unrepresentative FP1 session so here is a roundup of all the action across FP1 and FP2 at 2024 Bahrain Grand Prix, as the new F1 season finally commenced.
FP1
Stake’s Guanyu Zhou was first out on track but quickly reported brake issues and retreated to the pits, whilst Red Bull’s Verstappen set the pace on the first flying runs of 1m 33.900, only to be displaced by Russell in the 16th minute with 1m 33.749.
Verstappen quickly responded with 1m 33.535 to go 0.214 seconds quicker ahead of Russell, as eveyone set their quickest laps in the opening stints on the medium tyres.
Racing Bulls (RB) and McLaren were the only teams to run a soft tyre flier mid-session which saw Daniel Ricciardo go quickest with 1m 32.869, just ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris by 0.032s with Norris’ teammate – Oscar Piastri third in front of Yuki Tsunoda.
As the checkered flag fell, Ricciardo emerged fastest ahead of Norris, Piastri and Tsunoda with 10th placed Valtteri Bottas the only other driver to mount a soft tyre run in the session.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Daniel Ricciardo | RB | 1m 32.869 |
| 2 | Lando Norris | McLaren | + 0.032 |
| 3 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | + 0.244 |
| 4 | Yuki Tsunod | RB | + 0.314 |
| 5 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | + 0.324 |
| 6 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | + 0.369 |
| 7 | George Russell | Mercedes | + 0.382 |
| 8 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | + 0.399 |
| 9 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | + 0.433 |
| 10 | Valtteri Bottas | Stake | + 0.485 |
| 11 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | + 0.516 |
| 12 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | + 0.544 |
| 13 | Alex Albon | Williams | + 0.714 |
| 14 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | + 0.999 |
| 15 | Guanyu Zhou | Stake | + 1.054 |
| 16 | Logan Sargeant | Williams | + 1.344 |
| 17 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | + 1.938 |
| 18 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | + 2.275 |
| 19 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | + 4.608 |
| 20 | Nico Hulkenberg | Haas | + 5.069 |
FP2
Zhou again was first out on track as the floodlights lit up the Bahrain International Circuit, but it was Haas’ Hulkenberg who set the benchmark time of 1m 32.139 which was quickly bettered by several drivers including Perez and Leclerc.
Hamilton however found himself quickest after the opening flying laps with 1m 30.751 ahead of Alonso and Verstappen.
Hamilton ultimately maintained his pace across the Qualifying simulation laps to top FP2 with 1m 30.374, ahead of Mercedes teammate – Russell whilst Alonso, Sainz and Piastri rounded out the top five.
Piastri’s McLaren teammate, Norris meanwhile finished slowest and 2.234s off the pace
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1m 30.374 |
| 2 | George Russell | Mercedes | + 0.206 |
| 3 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | + 0.286 |
| 4 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | + 0.395 |
| 5 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | + 0.410 |
| 6 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | + 0.477 |
| 7 | Nico Hulkenberg | Haas | + 0.510 |
| 8 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | + 0.517 |
| 9 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | + 0.739 |
| 10 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | + 0.741 |
| 11 | Alex Albon | Williams | + 0.959 |
| 12 | Daniel Ricciardo | RB | + 1.142 |
| 13 | Logan Sargeant | Williams | + 1.341 |
| 14 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | + 1.390 |
| 15 | Yuki Tsunoda | RB | + 1.507 |
| 16 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | + 1.577 |
| 17 | Valtteri Bottas | Stake | + 1.627 |
| 18 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | + 1.653 |
| 19 | Guanyu Zhou | Stake | + 1.674 |
| 20 | Lando Norris | McLaren | + 2.234 |