Nico Rosberg tops the timesheets in the first Practice session in Bahrain

In the first practice session in Bahrain, Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg topped the timesheets ahead of his team mate Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Raikkonen; showing that they haven't lost their pace from Melbourne two weeks ago.

With heavy skies above the Sakhir circuit, it took nearly 15 minutes for the first driver to appear on the timesheets, when Pascal Wehrlein completed the first timed lap in the Manor-Mercedes. But Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton were the last to take to the track and set a lap time.

But it was Nico Rosberg who was fastest with a lap time of 1.32.294 ahead of Lewis Hamilton in second place who was 0.505 seconds behind him and ahead of Kimi Raikkonen in third place who was 1.834 seconds behind Rosberg.

Daniel Ricciardo finished the session in fourth place ahead of Daniil Kvyat in fifth place, Nico Hulkenberg in sixth place, Carlos Sainz Jr in seventh place, Max Verstappen in eighth place and Romain Grosjean in ninth place and Felipe Massa who rounded off the top ten finishers.

Sebastian Vettel ended the session in eleventh place ahead of Valtteri Bottas in twelfth place, Esteban Gutierrez in thirteenth place, Jenson Button in fourteenth place and Kevin Magnussen in fifteenth place.

As we head into the latter stages of the grid, Marcus Ericsson ended the session in sixteenth place ahead of Pascal Wehrlein in seventeenth place and ahead of F1 debutant Stoffel Vandoorne in eighteenth place. Felipe Massa finished the session in nineteenth place ahead of Jolyon Palmer in twentieth place, Alfonso Celis who makes his first FP1 debut for Force India in twenty-first place and Rio Haryanto in twenty-second place.

The classification of FP1 for the Bahrain GP is as follows:-

1. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, 1.32.294
2. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 0.505s
3. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 1.834s
4. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull-Renault, 2.167s
5. Daniil Kvyat, Red Bull Renault, 2.247s
6. Nico Hulkenberg, Force India-Mercedes, 2.307s
7. Carlos Sainz Jr, Toro Rosso, 2.499s
8. Max Verstappen, Toro Rosso, 2.566s
9. Romain Grosjean, Haas Ferrari, 2.706s
10. Felipe Massa, Williams-Mercedes, 2.712s
11. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, 2.779s
12. Valtteri Bottas, Williams-Mercedes, 2.880s
13. Esteban Gutierrez, Haas Ferrari, 3.015s
14. Jenson Button, McLaren-Honda, 3.146s
15. Kevin Magnussen, Renault, 3.196s
16. Marcus Ericsson, Sauber-Ferrari, 3.434s
17. Pascal Wehrlein, MRT Racing, 4.077s
18. Stoffel Vandoorne, McLaren-Honda, 4.098s
19. Felipe Nasr, Sauber-Ferrari, 4.425s
20. Jolyon Palmer, Renault, 4.645s
21. Alfonso Celis, Force India-Mercedes, 4.993s
22. Rio Haryanto, MRT Racing, 5.420s

Sarah Jones- @jonesy_laaa