2024 Bahrain Grand Prix - Free Practice 1 Results & Summary

The first Free Practice session of the new F1 season is done, and it was RB's Daniel Ricciardo who topped the standings.

The Bahrain Grand Prix is the first race of the new season, and after the pre-season testing, which was also done at the Bahrain International Circuit, the drivers got their first "competitive" action during Free Practice 1.

It seemed like Haas' Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg were mostly focusing on the car's race pace, as they were more than four seconds behind the competition.

One team that will not like their results is Alpine, as their struggles were discussed also before the cars hit the track. Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly placed 17th and 18th, respectively, seemingly way off the pace.

However, a positive surprise was the result of RB, as Daniel Ricciardo was actually the driver who won the first Free Practice session with a time of 1:32.869, while Yuki Tsunoda placed fourth, only 0.314 seconds behind him.

Both RB's drivers were on soft tires, as were also McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, who put their cars on the virtual podium in Free Practice, placing second and third, respectively.

The fastest runner from the drivers who completed laps only on medium tires was Fernando Alonso in Aston Martin, who was 0.324 seconds behind the leader, while his teammate, Lance Stroll, was only 14th.

Red Bull's Max Verstappen seemingly struggled with his upshifts and downshifts once again. The Dutch driver and his team investigated the issue throughout the session, but still, the three-time World Champion placed sixth, while his teammate, Sergio Perez was only 12th.

Mercedes and Ferrari also finished around the middle of the pack, as George Russell was 7th and Lewis Hamilton 9th, while Charles Leclerc finished 8th and Carlos Sainz 11th.

One another team that should maybe worry ahead of the new season is Kick Sauber, as they also used their soft compound of tires, placing only 10th with Valtteri Bottas and 15th with Zhou Guanyu.

Of course, like always, the Free Practice results provide more questions than answers, as we can't predict what fuel or engine modes teams used, and a lot can change before the qualifying session on Friday.