The sound of Formula 1 engines rang out for the first practice session of the 2010 season as Adrian Sutil topped the times in the hot weather of Bahrain.
Despite the new season there was controversy as usual with Renault’s Bob Bell expressing his concerns about the new innovative McLaren rear wing which includes a flap controlled by the driver to stall the air.
Meanwhile on the track the usual suspects took turns to top the times throughout the session with the Force India team impressing many, although only time will tell if the F1 minnows were running a light fuel load.
With Sutil topping the times, Alonso set the fastest time in sector 2 as the session drew to a close before darting in to the pits at the end of the lap, a small glimpse of the true pace of the Ferrari maybe?
Robert Kubica showed potential pace from Renault as he finished the session third fastest as new boy Petrov settled in to his new career finishing down in 16th.
Felipe Massa showed no signs of any lasting damage done by his accident last year as he set forth fastest time followed by the two McLaren’s of Button and Hamilton.
Force India’s Liuzzli was next on the time sheets with Nico Rosberg finishing fastest of the two Mercedes drivers as Schumacher struggled to find a set-up he was happy with.
Mark Webber had the upper hand of the two Red Bull cars as he split the Mercedes in 9th, with Vettel down in 13th.
Kovalainen completed the most laps of the session with 21 laps, despite having problems with a hydraulic pipe burning his leg at one point.
The award for fastest new team in the first session went to Virgin racing at Timo Glock pipped the two Lotus drivers to a faster time, unfortunately for the new teams though they finished 7 seconds of the pace of the leaders and nearly 2 seconds off the pace of the two Sauber’s.
Bruno Senna turned wheels in the HRT for the first time with 20 minutes to go, completing one installation lap, his team-mate Chandok wasn’t so lucky though as HRT struggled to get their cars track ready. Senna completed 2 more laps before the chequered flag went out but looked to be struggling with the handling of the HRT car.