Mercedes confirmed their advantage over the chasing pack in Bahrain on Friday where Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg topped the timesheets.
Heading out 15 minutes into FP1, Hamilton hit the front ahead of Rosberg with the duo holding those positions as one by one their rivals ventured out.
It wasn’t long before most of the top 15 were back in the pits as not only did the drivers spend time at the Sakhir circuit during pre-season testing but the heat of the day meant the conditions were not relevant to what they would face in the evening qualifying and the grand prix.
Heading back out in the final 30 minutes, Fernando Alonso took the fight to the Mercedes drivers and temporarily took the P1 slot.
However, the Mercs returning to the action it was only a matter of time before Hamilton and Rosberg were back at the front.
The British driver’s 1:37.502 was the time to beat with Rosberg 0.231s adrift. Alonso was a further 0.220s behind.
Nico Hulkenberg was fourth quickest for Force India ahead of Jenson Button, Kimi Raikkonen and Kevin Magnussen.
The full results: