Hamilton set his fastest time under the floodlights in the second of Fridays two 90-minute sessions
Lewis Hamilton. Pic/AFP
Newly crowned seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton ended the opening day of practice for the Bahrain Grand Prix fastest for Mercedes even as Red Bull's Alexander Albon crashed.
The Briton lapped the 5.4-kilometer long Sakhir track in one minute, 28.971 seconds, 0.347 seconds quicker than Max Verstappen who was second for Red Bull.
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Valtteri Bottas in the other Mercedes was third.
Hamilton set his fastest time under the floodlights in the second of Friday's two 90-minute sessions. The 35-year-old had also gone quickest in the first afternoon session leading Bottas in a Mercedes one-two.
Friday evening's session was interrupted by two red flags.
The first stoppage was caused by a heavy crash for Albon. The Thai driver lost control of his Red Bull at the exit of the final corner and smashed into the barriers.
He got out of the car unscathed.
No sooner had the marshals cleared the wreckage of his mangled Red Bull than the red flags came out again. This time it was prompted by a dog that had run onto the circuit.
Sergio Perez ended the day fourth quickest in his Racing Point ahead of Renault's Daniel Ricciardo and AlphaTauri's Pierre Gasly.
Lando Norris was seventh for McLaren ahead of Lance Stroll in the other Racing Point and Gasly's team mate Daniil Kvyat.
The crashed Albon, who had set a time before his shunt, rounded out the top ten.
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