Verstappen 'jumping' in Red Bull as Ricciardo finishes FP1 fastest

Daniel Ricciardo set the fastest time of the first official F1 race weekend session of the season in FP1 for the Bahrain Grand Prix.

The RB driver set a best time of a 1:32.869, finishing just 0.032 secs faster than former McLaren teammate Lando Norris.

Oscar Piastri was third in the second McLaren, with only six cars setting their fastest lap times on the Soft compound of tyres.

The first indication of the pecking order will be gained in more representative conditions under the floodlights in FP2.

Verstappen 'jumping'

A number of drivers struggled with balance across the first 60 minutes of the season with gusty wind conditions wreaking havoc on the cars.

Max Verstappen complained about various issues throughout the session, including the RB20 "jumping" due to bad upshifts and downshifts, yet was still able to post the second-fastest Medium tyre run.

Yuki Tsunoda was fourth quickest in the second RB ahead of Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso, the first of the Medium-tyre runners.

Verstappen was sixth ahead of Mercedes' George Russell and Ferrari's Charles Leclerc, whilst former teammates Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas rounded out the first top 10 of the year - the Stake F1 driver on Softs.

Alpine struggles

Carlos Sainz was 11th in the second Ferrari having not used the Softs, neither did Sergio Perez in 12th - the Mexican two-tenths down on teammate Verstappen.

Alex Albon came next in the Williams ahead of Lance Stroll, who complained of "horrendous" handling in his Aston Martin AMR24.

Zhou Guanyu overcame a lengthy stint in the Stake F1 garage to finishing 15th, ahead of Logan Sargeant.

Both Alpines struggled ahead of what is expected to be a difficult weekend for the French manufacturer, Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly finishing faster than only Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg.