Alonso maintains the illusion with the second best time in a Free Practice led by Pérez

   MADRID, 3 Mar. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Mexican driver Sergio Pérez (Red Bull) led this Friday the first session of the Free Practice of the Bahrain Grand Prix, at the Bahrain International Circuit, ahead of a Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) who maintains the illusion with a second place and his partner, Max Verstappen, who closed the 'podium', while Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) finished twentieth after suffering a spin.

'Checo' Pérez set a competitive 1:32.758, far from his best time in the tests on the same track (1:30.3), although with very soft tires that will not be used in the GP), although more than a second faster than the time set by Pierre Gasly in last season's Free Practice 1 at Sakhir (1:34.1).

Neither Ferrari nor Mercedes, who used the first session to continue with the set-up of their cars, were not up to the Austrian team in these Free 1. Charles Leclerc finished fifth (1:34.257) and had to recover the wing 'standard', since the new one gave symptoms of instability; and Carlos Sainz had an accident due to a problem on the floor of his car.

The seven-time world champion could only be tenth, more than two seconds behind the energy drink team, while George Russell registered the thirteenth fastest time (1:35.050), also far from expected. Although the morning session will be much more representative of what will be seen in qualifying and the race.

The first session of the season started, like the preseason, in a very exciting way, with a 'fast' Alonso who set the first best time (1:35.048), although he was surpassed a few minutes later by 'Checo' Pérez and a still far from the times that will be seen in qualifying, 1:34.343 that kept him at the top during the first half hour.

These Free 1 sessions were a continuation of the three pre-season days, which is why there were many tests of the teams, with numerous single-seaters wearing wax to check the aerodynamic flows in certain areas. Thus, after the first 15 minutes, Red Bull and Aston Martin, with a Lance Stroll who was making his debut in his AMR23, finished their first batch to mount another 'setup'.

Lewis Hamilton, on medium tyres, climbed to third place 8 tenths off Pérez's best time, in a session in which they started faster than Ferrari, although they would later collapse. The 'Scuderia', past the equator of the first Free Practice, saw Charles Leclerc in ninth place and Sainz was marching, twelfth, both more than three seconds behind the best time at that time.

Red Bull did not slacken and mounted the C3, the softest rubber that will be seen in Bahrain, which allowed 'Checo' to confirm his first place with 1:32.758, and Verstappen to follow closely, second to six tenths. After this, more than half of the grid put on the soft tyre, with Lando Norris and Valtteri Bottas chasing the Red Bulls, with Alonso fifth, more than two seconds behind the best time and Hamilton also 2.2 behind the Mexican.

The scare of the session was carried out by Sainz with a spin in T7 when he fully entered the closed T9 by braking when he touched the dirty right area, hitting the track with the 'belly' of his car up to three times and losing the support aerodynamic, although he was able to avoid hitting with the protections. This incident prevented him from going out on track more, so he finished the session in last place.

His teammate Leclerc did not mount the soft tires in this first contact either, reserving them for Free Practice 2, but with the medium ones he placed himself in a great fifth place, one and a half seconds behind Pérez's best time. Already in the final stretch, Alonso mounted the same tires as Pérez and scored a good 1:33.196, less than half a second behind the Mexican, between the two RB23s. His teammate, Lance Stroll, got into his Aston Martin and signed the sixth fastest time, despite his physical problems.