Bahrain GP Friday practice
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Meanwhile, Norris has pipped Grosjean to the top time in the 'B-class'.
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It's a 1m31.328s from Bottas, which is three and a half tenths quicker than Verstappen's benchmark. The Red Bull driver was quicker in the final sector.
Purple sector one, purple sector two for Bottas. This looks ominous.
Grosjean's first effort on softs takes him to seventh place, 1.3s behind Verstappen but three tenths ahead of closest midfield rival Ricciardo.
Bottas is out on the red-walled tyre now, so we're about to see what the W10 is capable of on the softest compound.
Verstappen's second lap on this set is a tenth slower than what he'd managed earlier.
Best second sector of anyone, and Gasly ultimately goes third, 0.142s off the pace.
Gasly has got rid of that first set of hards and is now out on the soft compound. This should put him well up the order.
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Verstappen's first lap on his new set of softs is a 1m31.673s, complete with a session-best third sector, which takes him top of the timing screens.
We're almost at the halfway point of this 90-minute session, and Verstappen heads out on softs to restart track action.
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Some prospective engine penalty news emerging during FP1 - Sainz already confirmed an MGU-K change yesterday, but apparently he's taken on a whole host of new components. Probably not ideal after one race. 
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Gasly reports his car is "super-oversteery", asks the team to check the engine braking.
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Current order: 1 Vettel, 2 Leclerc, 3 Bottas, 4 Hamilton, 5 Verstappen, 6 Ricciardo, 7 Albon, 8 Hulkenberg, 9 Magnussen, 10 Kvyat, 11 Perez, 12 Raikkonen, 13 Sainz, 14 Gasly, 15 Grosjean, 16 Norris, 17 Giovinazzi, 18 Russell, 19 Kubica, 20 Stroll.
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Russell reports that he can't accelerate his FW42, which the team tells him is down to a precautionary mode for high engine temps.
Hamilton is back past Verstappen and up to fourth place, but still adrift of Bottas. That should be that for this opening run.
Ricciardo, on soft tyres, has gone top of the midfield group in sixth place, two tenths up on Hulkenberg.
Gasly moves up to 14th on his second try, behind Sainz.
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Gasly's first flying lap is a rather gentle 1m35.422s on the hards. Only good enough for P18, splitting the two Williams cars - but in all honesty it looked like a bit of a mess grip-wise.
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Vettel, whose set of softs now has seven laps on it, ups the pace to a 1m31.747s. Leclerc is up to second place behind him.
The only two cars yet to log a somewhat representative lap are Stroll's spinning Racing Point machine and Gasly's Red Bull. The Frenchman looks like he's about to rectify that.
Hamilton, still on mediums, moves up to fourth. 0.361s off the pace. He's not quite on his team-mate's level in these early stages, but whether that's down to performance or the particular programme they're running is difficult to tell.
The top three - Vettel, Bottas and Leclerc - are split by a rather tasty 0.065s, although it's worth noting Bottas' lap was set on a harder tyre.
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Current top 10: 1 Vettel, 2 Bottas, 3 Leclerc, 4 Verstappen, 5 Hamilton, 6 Albon, 7 Hulkenberg, 8 Kvyat, 9 Perez, 10 Ricciardo.
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Vettel sets the new benchmark, a 1m32.299s.
Hamilton went quickest of all in S1, but the lap has gone away from him - and both Bottas and Vettel are now quicker in that first sector.
In the meantime, Leclerc has moved up to within 0.024s of Bottas.
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"I spun, I hit the front wing," Stroll reports, before adding in a rather sing-songy tone: "I have to booooox."
Crash
Stroll spun getting on the power out of Turn 4, and actually tapped the inside barrier with his front wing. Seemingly no serious damage.
Yellow flag
Yellow flags out for a Lance Stroll spin.
Vettel fires in his first flying lap on softs, and is a quarter of a second slower than Bottas.
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Bottas goes top on mediums, a 1m32.340s.
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Hamilton's flyer takes him to second place, four tenths behind Verstappen. Bottas was five tenths quicker in the first sector though.
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Verstappen improves to a 1m32.950, on the same set of softs. Kvyat up to second behind him.
Hamilton forgoes an installation lap to start a flyer right away on the mediums. Bottas is now on track as well, so that's all 20 drivers accounted for.
Kubica posts a first Bahrain lap for the Williams FW42, and it's rather tame - some 3.7s slower than Verstappen.
By: Geoff Creighton
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