Lando Norris led a hot opening practice session for the Bahrain Grand Prix which resulted in two of his rivals facing investigation.
Yuki Tsunoda and Alexander Albon have been summoned by the stewards over two separate incidents during the session.
The Williams driver is under investigation for impeding his own team mate, Luke Browning, who was driving Carlos Sainz Jnr’s in this session. Browning caught the other Williams at turn 13, Albon moved off the racing line too late and Browning had to drive onto the run-off area.
“Wowch, that was close,” remarked Felipe Drugovich, another rookie getting a chance to drive in practice, as he followed Albon.
Tsunoda is under investigation for overtaking Albon in the pit lane. The Red Bull driver also slipped up by failing to stop at his new team’s garage, instead driving towards the Racing Bulls pit stop, until his race engineer Richard Wood pointed out his mistake. Albon, Tsunoda and Browning are to speak to the stewards following first practice.
The session took place in hot conditions, the ambient temperature reaching 35C which the track surface was over 46C.
Pierre Gasly set the second-fastest time for Alpine ahead of Lewis Hamilton, as he evaluated Ferrari’s changes to its floor. Albon was fourth despite his travails and Esteban Ocon took fifth for Haas. Nico Hulkenberg’s Sauber ensured six different cars appeared in the top six.
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Browning was quickest among the rookie drivers and was complimented on his efforts by race engineer Gaetan Jego and team principal James Vowles. “You did really good for the whole hour,” said Jego.
Dino Beganovic was 14th in his first outing for Ferrari, two places ahead of Drugovich, who was only eight-hundredths of a second off Aston Martin’s regular driver Lance Stroll. Ryo Hirakawa was 17th for Haas, followed by Frederik Vesti in George Russell’s Mercedes and Ayumu Iwasa in Max Verstappen’s Red Bull.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli ended the session at the bottom of the times after being forced to pit early on with a technical problem in his Mercedes which caused a loss of power.
2025 Bahrain Grand Prix Grand Prix first practice result
| P. | # | Driver | Team | Model | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren-Mercedes | MCL39 | 1’33.204 | 23 | |
| 2 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine-Renault | A525 | 1’33.442 | 0.238 | 23 |
| 3 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Ferrari | SF-25 | 1’33.800 | 0.596 | 23 |
| 4 | 23 | Alexander Albon | Williams-Mercedes | FW47 | 1’33.928 | 0.724 | 24 |
| 5 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | Haas-Ferrari | VF-25 | 1’34.184 | 0.980 | 19 |
| 6 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | Sauber-Ferrari | C45 | 1’34.262 | 1.058 | 24 |
| 7 | 7 | Jack Doohan | Alpine-Renault | A525 | 1’34.396 | 1.192 | 23 |
| 8 | 30 | Liam Lawson | Racing Bulls-Honda RBPT | 02 | 1’34.397 | 1.193 | 23 |
| 9 | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | Red Bull-Honda RBPT | RB21 | 1’34.484 | 1.280 | 23 |
| 10 | 81 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren-Mercedes | MCL39 | 1’34.508 | 1.304 | 25 |
| 11 | 5 | Gabriel Bortoleto | Sauber-Ferrari | C45 | 1’34.628 | 1.424 | 23 |
| 12 | 6 | Isack Hadjar | Racing Bulls-Honda RBPT | 02 | 1’34.667 | 1.463 | 22 |
| 13 | 46 | Luke Browning | Williams-Mercedes | FW47 | 1’34.885 | 1.681 | 20 |
| 14 | 38 | Dino Beganovic | Ferrari | SF-25 | 1’35.055 | 1.851 | 20 |
| 15 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin-Mercedes | AMR25 | 1’35.116 | 1.912 | 23 |
| 16 | 34 | Felipe Drugovich | Aston Martin-Mercedes | AMR25 | 1’35.198 | 1.994 | 19 |
| 17 | 50 | Ryo Hirakawa | Haas-Ferrari | VF-25 | 1’35.261 | 2.057 | 20 |
| 18 | 72 | Frederik Vesti | Mercedes | W16 | 1’35.325 | 2.121 | 26 |
| 19 | 37 | Ayumu Iwasa | Red Bull-Honda RBPT | RB21 | 1’35.475 | 2.271 | 20 |
| 20 | 12 | Andrea Kimi Antonelli | Mercedes | W16 | 1’38.051 | 4.847 | 3 |
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