McLaren topped the time sheet at the end of the first day of free practice for the Bahrain Grand Prix, with Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri having set the benchmark in both one-hour practice sessions.

McLaren

“A reasonable day for the team. Some tricky conditions, very different to the test, so it’s about understanding the car in the heat. The team have worked hard all day, and we now have plenty of things to focus on tomorrow to make sure we’re in a strong position for Qualifying.”

“Friday done. Pretty tricky conditions out there today, especially in FP1, but I think it’s been a good day overall. The pace looked strong in FP2, and we’ve learned a lot. We’ll have a look at what went well and what we can do better before turning our attention to Qualifying tomorrow afternoon.”

Mercedes

"It [FP2] was OK. We expected McLaren to be a step ahead here and we saw that today. They were a strongest in the middle sector where the tyres are overheating, so we know we’ve got a bit of work to do if we want to challenge them. I think we’re in position fighting for the next best behind them in all honesty.

"I think it’s going to be close between ourselves, Ferrari and the Red Bulls. It is hard to say with confidence, but we saw both teams performing strongly at different points throughout the day. I definitely feel, unlike the last three races, this won’t be dominated by Qualifying – this weekend is going to be dominated by race pace and by tyre degradation. Of course, you want to have a good Qualifying, but the race is where the action will be."

"FP1 was obviously quote short. Unfortunately, I had a water leak on the car, so I had to stop and couldn’t drive for the rest of the session. That was a shame because you don’t want to miss out on laps. FP2 was quite positive though. The single lap was quite good, even though I made a big mistake in sector one, and overall I felt pretty good in the car. The long run was quite tricky – completely different to what we had in testing, so I had to adapt, but overall, despite the issue in FP1, it was a positive day.

"Being at a track that I know definitely helped get me up to speed more quickly today. I felt straightaway in FP2 that I had confidence with the car and despite the track being different to when I’ve driven here previously, I had the confidence to be able to push. McLaren still seem to be the favourite but I think we should be fighting for the top five in tomorrow’s Qualifying. We can definitely take the fight to the Red Bulls and Ferrari, but let’s wait and see what Saturday brings."

Ferrari

"The temperatures are so much higher than during testing here, so FP2 was tricky. The feeling in the car is completely different and we have to adjust the car to suit it. We will work on that tonight and try to optimise the setup. I’m trying to push in a direction that will allow me to extract the most out of the car for my driving style.

"With our competitors ahead of us by quite a bit, I’m motivated to close that gap as soon as possible. We have to focus on maximising the potential of our car. I think we can still find some performance ahead of qualifying and we will do everything to extract the most from our upgrade. Let’s see where that will place us tomorrow."

"FP1 was quite tricky — the heat made it difficult to find grip, so it wasn’t the most representative session for us. FP2 was a step forward. The lap on softs was looking strong, but I went a bit deep into the final corner and lost some time there. Our race runs were solid, but others seem competitive in all conditions, so we’ll be working hard overnight to close the gap."

Red Bull

“It was a more difficult session today although it was a shorter day for me, I had limiting running time as Ayumu was in the car for FP1. It took a few laps to get into it, the balance wasn't too bad, but we were struggling a lot with the grip.

"As a Team we had a bit of a different approach to our Friday than our competitors, but the gap is quite big at the moment. We have quite a bit of work to do also in the long run and we're hoping that tomorrow is more fun.”

“Today was a bit of learning, we ran different set-up across the cars to see what the performance looked like. But overall, I would say the second session was a bit messy for me, with being able to put it together. There were also some communication struggles on radio between my race engineer and me, that’s all just part of the learning process and understanding one another properly, it’s only the fifth session together since I jumped in the car.

"For now, there is some struggling, but at the same time a lot will come from cleaner communication. I think if we can clean up the communication then it’ll make operational things a lot smoother, warm-up, the switches etc. and that would bring lap times. Maybe Woody and I need to go out tonight and get to know each other, with my Japanese English and his Scottish English!

"It would be a fun night. It’s hard to tell where we are at the moment, I feel there is potential, but it has been hard to extract it. It wasn’t the finest Friday ever, I hope the rest of the weekend is better, I have to be better. I am still feeling optimistic and I am sure we will change a lot of things overnight.”

Racing Bulls

“We had a good FP2 today, especially after how hot the track was during FP1, where we were not able to gather any reliable information. FP2 made much more sense and we looked strong in one-lap pace. Generally, we had a good feeling in the car, but there’s still room for improvement, so a lot to look forward to for tomorrow. I’m optimistic, as I know I’m going to put the work in tonight.

"It’s not surprising that all the gaps are really close in the midfield; we’re in the mix and I know it’s going to be about details for tomorrow’s Qualifying.”

"FP2 was more tricky for us weirdly because of the track conditions in FP1 making it a difficult session. The balance in FP2 went away from us a little bit, but in general I think the car is in a good place, it's just fine tuning. Tomorrow we have a session in the day, which isn't going to help us for Quali, but we'll be taking what we can from this session ahead of then.

"I made a pretty big mistake in FP2 which dropped me down, so for all of us it's important to nail the lap, otherwise it's very costly here. Right now in Formula One, the difference between a really good lap and a bad lap can completely change your position so it puts pressure on us out on track."

Williams

"We weren’t quite as competitive today as we were when we were here for pre-season testing, and we fell back a little bit in the heat. The issues we’re seeing were expected though and some balance issues have been exposed. We only seem to have them at this track, it’s interesting. We know it’s going to be close here, but the good thing is, it’s nothing major that needs fixing; the car feels good."

Carlos Sainz - FP2: 1:31.623, P10
"After skipping FP1 we got up to speed pretty quickly in the short run, and then in the long run we struggled with some car balance issues and tyres, but we’ll do some work tonight to see if we can sort them. The track and the car feel completely different to when we were here for testing, so we need to make a few adjustments to make sure that we hit the sweet spot tomorrow."

Alpine

Pierre Gasly - FP1: 1:33.442, P2; FP2: 1:31.947, P17

“The conditions here in Bahrain are very different now compared to pre-season testing. In Free Practice 1 it was extremely hot and it was just low grip all session. It was quite nice to be second on the leaderboard even if it was not a representative session for various reasons. In Free Practice 2, the Hard tyre at the start felt okay but we just seemed to struggle on the Soft tyre.

"It’s important we understand that compound a bit better and see how we can optimise it over one lap. The midfield is extremely tight again and I remain optimistic that we can improve ahead of tomorrow. We will do our homework tonight and make sure we get it right tomorrow evening.”

Jack Doohan - FP1: 1:34.396, P7; FP2: 1:31.788, P14
“It’s been a solid day’s Practice in Bahrain. We struggled a little bit in Free Practice 1 and I still was not completely happy in Free Practice 2. The field is so close, two tenths of a second splits a number of cars, so every detail will count for a lot especially in a tight fight for Q3. We will keep our heads down and keep working hard to find some improvements from today.

"There will be plenty of useful data for us to run through from this evening’s session both on low and high fuel and across all three compounds. Tomorrow, Free Practice 3 will be hot like we had in the first session today. It will be all about refining some details, understanding the tyres and maximising what we have when it counts.”

Haas

"It was a difficult session and not really much to read from FP1 but a lot more came from FP2, so we’ll gather more data after today. It was hard for us as we’re still struggling, since Suzuka, with a little bouncing in the car. We’re lacking some top-speed as well, but we’ll keep working to find this for tomorrow. As a team we’re trying our best to figure it out, but at the moment it’s similar to Suzuka.”

“It was a good session, although I’m slightly struggling to get a good feeling with the car; I had some brake issues I was dealing with for the whole session. It still looks like on low-fuel we’re pretty competitive and we tried to run long with the soft tyre, so we’ll see what the data says but I’m pretty happy with today even though I got one session in.

"I definitely think the new floor is working as expected, which is great, as the team pushed it forward and brought it very quickly. I’m proud of them for that and it looks like we can run the car pretty aggressively now which is great for performance, so hopefully we can keep up the good performance.”

Aston Martin

Fernando Alonso - FP2: 1:31.825, P15
"I think it's going to be a tough weekend. Before coming here, the characteristics of Bahrain was a concern for us and our package, but we will learn and see what we can do the rest of the weekend.

"We had an issue with the steering early in FP2, but the mechanics were able to change the parts and it was okay after that, so thank you everyone in the garage for getting it fixed quickly."

"I think we were on the back foot today so we'll see what we can come up with tonight after looking at the data. With the nature of the circuit, I don't think it's going to be an easy weekend for us, so there is going to be some work to do."

Kick Sauber

"It was a tricky Friday. For the first time this year, we were facing really hot conditions – especially during daytime in FP1. The conditions differed quite severely from our test sessions in February. Though the run on soft tyres in particular did not meet expectations, we gathered a lot of data to help us to improve the car for the weekend. Now it is about reviewing both practice sessions in detail to make the right calls and be well prepared for the rest of the weekend.“

Gabriel Bortoleto - FP1: 1:34.628, P11; FP2: 1:31.772, P13
“Overall, it's been a positive day for us. FP1 was quite challenging with the high temperatures and a dusty track, which made the balance difficult to manage at times. The team did a very good job ahead of FP2 and we managed to make solid improvements with the setup – an effort for which I'd like to thank everyone in the garage.

"The car felt much more consistent, and I was happy with the performance we were able to extract. Looking ahead to FP3, there’s obviously still some work to do overnight, but I feel like we are in a decent place. We'll stay focused, keep pushing, and seek to carry this momentum forward.”