Bahrain Practice One: Positive start for Rosberg

The opening practice for the 2009 Bahrain Grand Prix would see AT&T Williams drivers Nico Rosberg and Kazuki Nakajima finish in fourth and eleventh. Nico would set an early time of 1m34.363, which would see Nico at the top of the times until just beyond the halfway mark when Hamilton went faster.

Nico would drop further down the order to fourth when the BMW's using the super soft tyres would move into second and third. Nico might have improved but for yellow flags at Turn eight when Buemi's Toro Rosso stopped on the exit of the turn.

It was a very hot day with Bridgestone selecting the medium and super-soft compounds for use in Bahrain, with this year being the first time that the the super-soft tyre will be used. It would take until after twenty minutes of the session completed before a driver would return to the track after their initial installation lap. Nico would return to the track while Raikkonen would spin at Turn two. The first time was that of Bourdais with a 1m:36.790.

Nico would go quickest with a 1m:36.069. Nico would improve his time with a 1m:34.834 while Bourdais was second, Kazuki third and Piquet fourth. Hamilton was now third with a 1m:35.476 running on the medium tyre. Nico would again improve with a 1m:34.363. With nearly half the session complete Hamilton would move into second with a 1m:34.472. Hamilton was now fastest with a 1m:33.647. This was is nearly three-quarters of a second ahead of Nico, with Kovalainen third, Massa fourth, Webber fifth and Piquet fifth.

Nico would pit but would return with one hour of the session completed. Raikkonen would improve to be sixth. Barrichello was now in third with a 1m:34.531. Button was down in eighth. But he would move into third with a 1m:34.434. The order was now Hamilton, Nico, Button, Barrichello, Massa and Kovalainen in sixth. With ten minutes remaining the BMW's would be the first team to use the super soft tyres. Heidfeld would set a time of 1m:33.907 to move into second.

Nico would respond with a 1m:34.227 which improved his time slightly, but he would remain in third place, behind Hamilton and Heidfeld. On his last lap Kubica using the super soft rubber would move up to third with a lap of 1m:33.938. With the end of the session Hamilton was fastest with a lap time of 1m:33.647. Heidfeld and Kubica were second and third, with Nico fourth, Button fifth, Kovalainen sixth and Barrichello in seventh.

Pos  Driver        Team			     Time     Laps
 1.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes     (B)  1:33.647 19
 2.  Heidfeld      BMW Sauber           (B)  1:33.907 17
 3.  Kubica        BMW Sauber           (B)  1:33.938 17
 4.  Rosberg       AT&T Williams-Toyota (B)  1:34.227 24
 5.  Button        Brawn GP-Mercedes    (B)  1:34.434 15
 6.  Kovalainen    McLaren-Mercedes     (B)  1:34.502 24
 7.  Barrichello   Brawn GP-Mercedes    (B)  1:34.531 18
 8.  Massa         Ferrari              (B)  1:34.589 17
 9.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault     (B)  1:34.827 21
10.  Raikkonen     Ferrari              (B)  1:34.827 19
11.  Nakajima      AT&T Williams-Toyota (B)  1:34.880 24
12.  Vettel        Red Bull-Renault     (B)  1:34.938 21
13.  Piquet        Renault              (B)  1:34.974 21
14.  Sutil         Force India-Mercedes (B)  1:35.021 18
15.  Trulli        Toyota               (B)  1:35.036 22
16.  Fisichella    Force India-Mercedes (B)  1:35.042 16
17.  Glock         Toyota               (B)  1:35.333 20
18.  Alonso        Renault              (B)  1:35.348 24
19.  Bourdais      Toro Rosso-Ferrari   (B)  1:35.353 22
20.  Buemi         Toro Rosso-Ferrari   (B)  1:35.369 15