Bahrain GP: Maldonado leads Valtteri in FP1

On a sunny and hot day the Williams F1 team would prepare for the first Friday practice for the 2012 Bahrain Grand Prix. Bruno Senna would again be replaced by Valtteri Bottas for this session, joining Pastor Maldonado. With the start of the session both Pastor and Valtteri would complete their installation laps returning to their pits. The circuit was reverted to its original 5.412 km configuration, rather than that used in 2010. Hulkenberg would set
the first time with a 1m:36.855 on a track that was still quite dusty. Team-mate Di Resta would eventually set a 1m:34.929 after a few laps out in the track. But Hulkenberg would improve with a 1m:34.859.

With thirty minutes of the session complete Pastor would come out followed shortly after by Valtteri. Pastor's first lap would be a 1m:36.764 which would see him sixth. His next lap was 1m:35.613 good enough for fifth. At this time Raikkonen was fastest with a 1m:34.609. Grosjean was second followed by Hulkenberg. With forty minutes of the session complete Vettel would go fastest with a 1m:34.311. Vettel would improve with a 1m:33.877 while second and third were now taken by Schumacher, 1m:34.483, and Rosberg, 1m:34.725. For Williams Valtteri had returned to his pit and with fifty minutes of the session complete was thirteenth. The medium tyre was the favoured one as the teams waited for the track to clean. Rosberg was now second with a 1m:34.249.

Hamilton would take to the track and would set a new fastest time with a 1m:33.572. Pastor was also back out on the track and would set a 1m:35.268 to be twelfth. As the first hour drew to a close the order was Hamilton, Vettel, Rosberg, Button, Schumacher, and Webber in sixth. Valtteri was currently in fourteenth, 1m:35.497, as both drivers continued to complete laps collecting data for the Williams team. With seventy minutes completed both Pastor and Valtteri would return to their pits after lengthy runs. There was a lot of complaints in regard to the drivers struggling for grip.

With the end of the session Hamilton was still fastest from Vettel, Di Resta, Rosberg, Button, Hulkenberg, Schumacher, Webber, Raikkonen, and Grosjean in tenth. Both Force India cars had set their times on the soft tyre. For the Williams team both drivers positions would remain unchanged in what was a session where the dusty track conditions made the conditions difficult and it was understandable that the team may not have been looking to set quicker times.

Pos Driver         	  Team		   	 Time       Laps
 1. Lewis Hamilton        McLaren-Mercedes       1m33.572   11
 2. Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault       1m33.877s  21
 3. Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes   1m34.150s  26
 4. Nico Rosberg          Mercedes               1m34.249s  23
 5. Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes       1m34.277s  14
 6. Nico Hulkenberg       Force India-Mercedes   1m34.344s  26
 7. Michael Schumacher    Mercedes               1m34.483s  17
 8. Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault       1m34.552s  22
 9. Kimi Raikkonen        Lotus-Renault          1m34.609s  17
10. Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault          1m34.847s  20
11. Sergio Perez          Sauber-Ferrari         1m35.024s  22
12. Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Renault       1m35.268s  24
13. Fernando Alonso       Ferrari                1m35.436s  21
14. Valtteri Bottas       Williams-Renault       1m35.497s  24
15. Felipe Massa          Ferrari                1m35.719s  19
16. Kamui Kobayashi       Sauber-Ferrari         1m35.929s  24
17. Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Ferrari     1m36.195s  20
18. Heikki Kovalainen     Caterham-Renault       1m36.330s  11
19. Vitaly Petrov         Caterham-Renault       1m36.484s  18
20. Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari     1m36.591s  20
21. Charles Pic           Marussia-Cosworth      1m37.467s  17
22. Timo Glock            Marussia-Cosworth      1m38.006s  18
23. Pedro de la Rosa      HRT-Cosworth           1m38.877s  19
24. Narain Karthikeyan    HRT-Cosworth           1m39.996s  23