George Russell topped the first practice timesheets at the 2020 Sakhir Grand Prix. Russell is substituting for Lewis Hamilton who is out after testing positive for Covid-19 in the lead up to the GP weekend. Russell was parachuted in at the last moment and made perfect use of the most dominant F1 car of the season. The British youngster look accomplished and unflustered. Teammate Valtteri Bottas faced a different pressure from not having Hamilton on the other side of the Mercedes garage. It appeared Bottas hit a mental barrier and began to overdrive after Russell set a series of benchmark times.

Max Verstappen finished second with Alex Albon third and Bottas 4th. While the times are close one must remember that this is first practice and Mercedes usually gets faster over the course of the weekend. A number of rookie drivers made their debut, Jack Aitken and Pietro Fittipaldi also made rookie mistakes and not unsurprisingly finished at the back of the grid.

Saturday is where the real pressure begins, for now Bottas needs to unlock his mental game rather than locking his tires which he did consistently during FP1.

2020 Sakhir Grand Prix: First Practice Results

1	George RussellRUS	0:54.5460:54.546	4848
22	Max VerstappenVER	0:54.7220:54.722	2929
33	Alexander AlbonALB	0:54.8110:54.811	1818
44	Valtteri BottasBOT	0:54.8680:54.868	4444
55	Daniil KvyatKVY	0:55.0110:55.011	4040
66	Pierre GaslyGAS	0:55.1660:55.166	3737
77	Esteban OconOCO	0:55.2730:55.273	4848
88	Sebastian VettelVET	0:55.2810:55.281	3939
99	Daniel RicciardoRIC	0:55.3790:55.379	3838
1010	Charles LeclercLEC	0:55.4490:55.449	3434
1111	Lance StrollSTR	0:55.5580:55.558	4141
1212	Sergio PerezPER	0:55.7160:55.716	3333
1313	Carlos Sainz JnrSAI	0:55.7570:55.757	4040
1414	Kimi RaikkonenRAI	0:55.7830:55.783	3232
1515	Antonio GiovinazziGIO	0:55.8580:55.858	3535
1616	Lando NorrisNOR	0:56.0780:56.078	4747
1717	Kevin MagnussenMAG	0:56.1300:56.130	3737
1818	Nicholas LatifiLAT	0:56.7640:56.764	4747
1919	Pietro FittipaldiFIT	0:57.0770:57.077	2424
2020	Jack AitkenAIT	0:57.1870:57.187	3333