F1 champion Lewis Hamilton starts fast in practice one of the Bahrain GP

Lewis Hamilton four tenths of a second faster than Valtteri Bottas as Mercedes moves away from its rivals; Sergio Pérez third ahead of Carlos Sainz, Max Verstappen and Alex Albon only sixth and seventh

Lewis Hamilton showed no signs of slowing down as a seven-time Formula 1 world champion as he set a breakneck pace in first practice for the Bahrain GP.

Hamilton, who achieved his historic 2020 drivers’ crown with three races to spare last time in Turkey but insists he wants to stay in “competitive mode” to close out the season, led Sakhir’s first session with a 1: 29.033 – 0.4s. faster than his teammate Valtteri Bottas on the medium tire.

It was a commanding start to the weekend and the season-ending triple header as Hamilton proved to be in a class of his own. As, in fact, Mercedes did.

Sergio Pérez was the Silver Arrows’ closest challenger in third place, but the Mexican, desperate for a 2021 drive, was one of only two drivers, the other being McLaren’s Carlos Sainz, to do a one-second lap. of Hamilton’s fastest time.

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Max Verstappen pirouettes in the last corner of the Bahrain GP during P1

Max Verstappen, so often Merc’s only rival in 2020, was only sixth and turned during the session, which took place in daylight conditions before a qualifying and sunset race, and watched the drivers test the tires of the next year.

He was just behind Pierre Gasly on the Alpha Tauri and just ahead of his teammate Alex Albon.

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Charles Leclerc took a turn during FP2 at Turn 2 of the Bahrain GP.

The battle for third place in the constructors’ standings is one of the most fiercely competitive battles left in F1 2020, with Racing Point, Renault, McLaren and Ferrari all contested and closely even, and there was little to divide the four teams. at P1 in the desert.

Racing Point, which had Pérez up in third, and Renault finished the session with both cars in the top 10, while Lando Norris finished 18th due to reliability issues rather than pure pace.

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Romain Grosjean runs off the track at Turn 6 during FP2 at the Bahrain GP.

Meanwhile, Ferrari finished 11th and 12th through Charles Leclerc, last year’s Bahrain pole-winner who spun into turn two on Friday, and Sebastian Vettel, although they concentrated mainly on aerodynamic testing.

Robert Kubica, replacing Kimi Raikkonen at Alfa Romeo, was right behind Sebastian Vettel, while another alternate for the session, Roy Nissany at Williams, was setting the times.

The second practice will be held under the lights in Bahrain, live on Sky Sports F1 at 3pm.