Bahrain GP: Positive start for Bottas

The Williams F1 team would commence their 2013 Bahrain Grand Prix weekend with the opening Friday practice at the Bahrain circuit. Pirelli would be supplying their medium and hard compounds for this meeting while there would be two DRS zones, one on the pit straight and the other on the straight between Turns 10 and 11. It was hot and dry as the session got underway. Gutierrez and Chilton were the first two drivers to take to the track, followed by Perez. Pastor Maldonado would be first out for Williams followed by Valtteri Bottas. Everyone was out on the hard tyre as Marussia reserve Rodolfo Gonzalez had taken to the track, taking over Bianchi's car for this session. Caterham had brought in Kovalainen replacing Giedo van der Garde' in this session.

Both Williams drivers would pit after their installation lap as more drivers took to the track. Yet to come out would be the Mercedes cars, while Massa would be the last car to pit leaving the track empty. Fifteen minutes of the session completed and no times had been set. Perez would be the first driver to return to the track followed by Alonso. Perez would pit without setting a time as Hamilton and Rosberg left their pits. Alonso would pit as Hulkenberg came out. Hamilton would pit while Rosberg would go around for a second lap. Hulkenberg would set a 1m:42.500 while Rosberg pitted. Hulkenberg would improve with a 1m:40.521. Gutierrez and Raikkonen would take to the track with just over an hour remaining. Hulkenberg would pit as Gutierrez
set a 1m:38.556 to be quickest but he would be passed by Raikkonen with a 1m:35.533.

Button and Perez would take to the track as Gutierrez pitted. Perez was now second with a 1m:36.651. Sutil was next out as Raikkonen improved with a 1m:35.345. Button was now second with a 1m:35.745. But he would improve with a 1m:35.305 to be quickest. Raikkonen was second followed by Sutil and Perez. Both Williams drivers were out on the track with Pastor setting a 1m:37.793 to be fifth. Sutil was now fastest with a 1m:35.119 but Vettel would move ahead with a 1m:34.978. Pastor was now sixth with an improved 1m:36.498 and Valtteri eighth with a 1m:37.265. Valtteri would also find some time setting a 1m:35.783 to be sixth and Pastor now seventh. Ricciardo was now eighth. We had yet to see times from either Rosberg or Hamilton. Both Williams drivers would pit having completed seven laps.

Forty minutes remaining and Vergne was now ninth. We now had both Mercedes cars out on the track as Rosberg sets a 1m:35.834 to be eighth while Webber was now second, 1m:35.101. Valtteri was now seventh and Pastor ninth. Di Resta was up to sixth, 1m:35.349, seeing both Williams drivers drop down the order. Hamilton and Rosberg were ninth and tenth. Valtteri was now ninth and Pastor fourteenth. Rosberg was now fastest with a 1m:34.621 but he was quickly passed by Alonso with a 1m:34.564. Valtteri was now tenth and Pastor fifteenth. Di Resta was up to fourth with a 1m:34.949 followed by Webber, Sutil, Button, Raikkonen, Perez, and Valtteri. Both McLaren's were on the track with just over thirty minutes remaining. Massa was slowest but was on a quicker lap setting a 1m:35.039 to be fifth. He would find more pace and set a 1m:34.487 to be quickest. Both Williams drivers had returned to the track with Valtteri now twelfth and Pastor sixteenth.

With twenty minutes remaining Massa was fastest from Alonso, Rosberg, Vettel, Di Resta, Button, Webber, Sutil, Raikkonen, and Grosjean tenth. Hamilton was currently thirteenth as both Williams drivers pitted having completed a handful of laps each. Valtteri was twelfth and Pastor sixteenth. With ten minutes remaining the track was very busy but both Williams drivers were still in their garages. With most drivers on tyres that were quite worn there was little improvement in terms of times. Both Valtteri and Pastor would return to the track for their final run. As the final minutes counted down all were out on the track except for both Marussia cars. The Williams pair were evaluating different rear wings in their final run as the session came to a close. A positive start for Valtteri being seven tenths faster than Pastor. Massa would remain fastest from Alonso and Rosberg.

Pos  Driver         	  Team		        Time     Laps
 1. Felipe Massa          Ferrari               1m34.487s 11
 2. Fernando Alonso       Ferrari               1m34.564s 19
 3. Nico Rosberg          Mercedes              1m34.621s 22
 4. Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault      1m34.790s 20
 5. Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes  1m34.949s 17
 6. Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes      1m35.069s 22
 7. Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault      1m35.101s 19
 8. Adrian Sutil          Force India-Mercedes  1m35.119s 19
 9. Kimi Raikkonen        Lotus-Renault         1m35.345s 17
10. Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault         1m35.611s 14
11. Sergio Perez          McLaren-Mercedes      1m35.640s 23
12. Valtteri Bottas       Williams-Renault      1m35.783s 16
13. Lewis Hamilton        Mercedes              1m35.792s 16
14. Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m36.014s 19
15. Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m36.485s 20
16. Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Renault      1m36.498s 17
17. Nico Hulkenberg       Sauber-Ferrari        1m36.755s 20
18. Esteban Gutierrez     Sauber-Ferrari        1m37.214s 21
19. Charles Pic           Caterham-Renault      1m37.850s 20
20. Heikki Kovalainen     Caterham-Renault      1m38.401s 20
21. Max Chilton           Marussia-Cosworth     1m39.445s 12
22. Rodolfo Gonzalez      Marussia-Cosworth     1m40.215s 7