| 09:51:55
| Welcome to F1-Live.com and live coverage of the Bahrain Grand Prix weekend. Today we have two 90 minute free practice sessions, the first of which gets underway in a few minutes. |
| 09:52:18
| While FIA President Max Mosley has been making the headlines this week, it is back to the on track action this morning at Sakhir. Ferrari and Toyota were the only two teams to conduct a six-day pre-season test programme at this circuit, so they should have a head start on their rivals. |
| 09:55:03
| Being a free practice session, any engine or gearbox failure does not mean a grid penalty for the Grand Prix itself. All 22 drivers will have fresh components fitted for the session today. |
| 09:56:12
| Given the pace of Ferrari in Malaysia, combined with their test programme at Sakhir in the winter, Kimi Raikkonen and last year’s race winner Felipe Massa head into the race weekend as favourites. For McLaren, Malaysia was disappointing, and they will be looking to make up ground this weekend. |
| 09:58:14
| BMW Sauber has been strong at the start of the season with both Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica securing podium positions for the team. Behind BMW, there is a great scrap between Red Bull, Williams, Renault and Toyota. |
| 10:00:16
| The first practice session is now underway. |
| 10:00:31
| As ever, most will complete an early installation lap and then pit for checks. |
| 10:01:10
| Vettel, Glock and Bourdais are the first on track. |
| 10:02:10
| Kovalainen, Trulli and Heidfeld head out. |
| 10:03:12
| The early runners are returning to the pit. Kubica and Nakajima head out. |
| 10:04:07
| Unusually for Ferrari, Massa is out early. Normally they sit out the first 30 minutes. Fisichella and Sutil head out for Force India. |
| 10:05:05
| No one has completed a timed lap yet. Sato is on track in the Super Aguri Honda. |
| 10:06:25
| The others have pitted. Rosberg, Davidson, Alonso, Piquet and Webber joins Sato on track |
| 10:06:40
| Hamilton heads out. |
| 10:07:47
| Honda send out Button and Barrichello. Raikkonen is the only driver not yet out. No one has set a timed lap yet. |
| 10:08:46
| Raikkonen is in the car and waiting to head out. |
| 10:10:16
| Hamilton's out lap was completed on full wet tyres. No need to use the dry tyres for an installation lap. Now Raikkonen heads out. |
| 10:12:14
| Raikkonen returns to the pit. |
| 10:13:34
| Force India send out Fisichella and Sutil for a stint. |
| 10:14:02
| Vettel is back out in his Toro Rosso. |
| 10:15:36
| Bourdais is out in the second STR. |
| 10:16:50
| Sutil records the first timed lap of the session on a 1:36.5, roughly four seconds off last year's pole time. |
| 10:17:46
| Fisichella is a couple of tenths faster on his first timed lap. The four customer Ferrari powered cars remain on track. |
| 10:18:05
| Sutil and Vettel pit. |
| 10:18:49
| Fisichella pits leaving just Bourdais on track. |
| 10:19:12
| Vettel is back out. He keeps pitting and then going back out. |
| 10:19:46
| Bourdais moves fastest. |
| 10:21:06
| Vettel back in again. That must be his fourth pit stop and he presumably has a problem. |
| 10:24:22
| Bourdais remains fastest as Toyota send out Glock and Trulli. Nakajima is also out for Williams Toyota. |
| 10:26:04
| Rosberg heads out in the second FW30. |
| 10:26:22
| Bourdais remains fastest and pits his STR. |
| 10:27:22
| Trulli moves fastest ahead of Glock. Nakajima into fourth behind Bourdais. |
| 10:29:04
| Nakajima is now third fastest ahead of Bourdais, Vettel, Fisichella and Sutil. |
| 10:29:39
| Rosberg moves second and splits the Toyota duo. |
| 10:30:29
| Trulli improves his own best time and is now just a second off the 2007 pole time. |
| 10:31:15
| Glock and Nakajima improve demoting Rosberg to fourth. |
| 10:32:28
| Rosberg is now back up to second, four-tenths off Trulli. |
| 10:33:29
| Massa rolls out of pit lane in his Ferrari. |
| 10:33:42
| Kovalainen is out in his McLaren Mercedes. |
| 10:34:03
| Red Bull send out Mark Webber. |
| 10:34:42
| Glock finds two-tenths and moves second fastest behind team-mate Trulli. |
| 10:35:02
| Alonso and Hamilton are on track too. |
| 10:36:10
| Massa and Kovalainen on first timed laps. |
| 10:36:35
| Massa's first lap moves him P1 by half a second... |
| 10:37:11
| Kovalainen moves second for McLaren. |
| 10:37:36
| Now Hamilton vaults to the top of the timesheets. |
| 10:38:03
| Alonso's first lap moves him seventh behind Rosberg and ahead of Webber. |
| 10:38:17
| Raikkonen and Piquet join the action. |
| 10:39:35
| Webber improves and moves ahead of Rosberg. |
| 10:39:58
| Massa find nearly half a second to move fastest ahead of Hamilton and Kovalainen. |
| 10:40:13
| Bourdais runs wide in his STR. |
| 10:40:42
| Massa is already under his pole time from last year. |
| 10:41:00
| Raikkonen moves fourth in the second F2008. |
| 10:41:30
| Alonso improves and is now ahead of Glock. |
| 10:42:28
| Raikkonen find six-tenths to move fastest ahead of Massa and the McLaren duo. |
| 10:43:01
| Massa improves next time around to regain the top spot. |
| 10:43:17
| The gap to McLaren is now almost half a second. |
| 10:44:18
| Hamilton joins Kovalainen in the pit. Coulthard is on his first timed lap of the session. |
| 10:44:38
| Heidfeld and Kubica are on track for BMW Sauber. |
| 10:45:28
| Heidfeld locks up heading into turn one. |
| 10:46:13
| Massa and Raikkonen have pitted. Trulli is back out in his Toyota. |
| 10:46:35
| Coulthard is working his way up the order in his RB4. |
| 10:47:26
| Prior to pitting, Raikkonen had an off track moment after locking the rear brakes. |
| 10:47:48
| Kubica moves sixth, Heidfeld 14th at the moment. |
| 10:49:05
| Kubica moves ahead of Trulli. |
| 10:51:12
| Heidfeld is on a better lap but still outside of the top ten. |
| 10:51:39
| Nakajima runs wide but is able to continue. |
| 10:52:25
| The four Honda-powered cars have yet to set a time with over half of the session completed. |
| 10:54:21
| The front runners have pitted. |
| 10:55:05
| Hamilton is back out in his McLaren. |
| 10:55:54
| Alonso is bak out in his Renault. Still no sign of Button, Barrichello, Sato and Davidson. |
| 10:57:07
| Kovalainen joins his team-mate back on track. |
| 10:57:22
| Button now heads out in his Honda. |
| 10:58:22
| Fisichella runs wide, Hamilton locks up as Massa rejoins the circuit. |
| 11:00:48
| Barrichello joins Button on track. Sato and Davidson yet to complete a lap. |
| 11:03:02
| Coulthard moves seventh in his Red Bull ahead of Alonso and Glock. |
| 11:04:44
| No major changes as Massa remains fastest from Raikkonen, Hamilton and Kovalainen. |
| 11:07:47
| Heidfeld remains 13th and is struggling it seems with the BMW Sauber. |
| 11:08:38
| A lot of work going on in the Raikkonen pit. He has not been out for some time. |
| 11:09:22
| Webber runs wide under braking for turn one. |
| 11:11:24
| After a long stint, Massa pits his Ferrari. |
| 11:12:25
| Hamilton is back out for McLaren. |
| 11:14:45
| Raikkonen is back in the Ferrari and will be heading out soon. He has only completed a few laps. |
| 11:16:16
| Sutil runs wide but is able to continue. |
| 11:16:42
| Super Aguri Honda yet to set a time. |
| 11:18:11
| Turn eight catches Sutil out for the second straight lap. He remains slowest in 20th. |
| 11:18:46
| Raikkonen is back out. |
| 11:22:19
| The circuit is quite busy with eight minutes remaining. |
| 11:22:44
| Davidson, Sato on track finally for Super Aguri Honda. |
| 11:23:18
| Hamilton locks up and loses time into turn eight. |
| 11:25:16
| Davidson's first lap is three tenths off Sutil. |
| 11:25:29
| Bourdais moves 14th. |
| 11:27:05
| Only Hamilton and Alonso not on track. |
| 11:28:12
| Nakajima moves fifth fastest in the Williams. |
| 11:28:38
| Team-mate Rosberg is on a better lap too. |
| 11:29:22
| Rosberg moves third in what was probably a low fuel run on the harder tyre. |
| 11:29:53
| The Williams duo continue on another hot lap. |
| 11:30:03
| The chequered flag is out. |
| 11:30:44
| Rosberg loses time and remains third. |
| 11:31:44
| So we have as expected a Ferrari one-two at the end of the first session. Massa is fastest from Raikkonen, Rosberg, Hamilton, Kovalainen, Nakajima, Kubica, Trulli, Coulthard and Alonso. |
