Adrian Sutil’s Force India claimed the best time of the opening ninety minute first practice session here in Bahrain this morning the young German almost two tenths faster than the second fastest man on track, Fernando Alonso. Robert Kubica was third for Renault with Felipe Massa fourth, Jenson Button fifth, Lewis Hamilton sixth, Tonio Liuzzi seventh, Nico Rosberg eighth, Mark Webber ninth and Michael Schumacher tenth.

The highly anticipated season opening Bahrain Grand Prix got underway at the Bahrain international Circuit this morning under the expected hot and sunny conditions. Track temperature was sitting at a very warm 35 degrees as Jarno Trulli became the first man to officially end the off season as he pulled hos Lotus out of pitlane and onto the circuit.

Jaime Alguersuari, Sebastien Buemi and Heikki Kovalainen soon join the Italian on track as Michael Schumacher remains in the Mercedes garage, slowly pulling his balaclava over his head. The two force India runners begin their second laps of this opening session as they put their respective Force India’s through their paces.

The Ferrari garage comes to life and Fernando Alonso pulls out to make his race debut for the Scuderia, Hamilton and Schumacher appear not long after the Spaniard. Most drivers are busy doing installation laps as the weekend gets well and truly underway but they all return to their respective garages to debrief and the track goes silent.

Twenty five minutes in and Heikki Kovalainen is the first man to appear to begin a second lap  with teammate Jarno Trulli soon joining him on track. Trulli sets a time fourteen seconds slower than his Lotus teammate after an off track excursion at turn one.

Lewis Hamilton takes to the track as does Robert Kubica while the two HRT drivers wait patiently for their cars to be ready. Hamilton goes to the top of the timesheets but he is soon knocked down a peg by his teammate, reigning world champion, Jenson Button.

There is a new section of track this year and drivers seem to taking a good minute winding their way through the new turns but as we reach the one hour mark they appear to be getting the hang of it a little more.

Alonso moves into P1 with the two McLaren’s second and third while Felipe Massa takes P4. Alonso had to make his way past the slow Sauber of Pedro de la Rosa, but he roars past down the main straight making quick work of the Spaniard. Vettel makes a slight error as he attempts a fast run, a move that left him 14^th on the leaderboard with thirty minutes remaining.

Massa moves into P2 with his former teammate Michael Schumacher ninth when out of nowhere Adrian Sutil puts his Force India into top spot over three tenths faster than Alonso’s Ferrari. Finally seventy minutes in and history is made as Bruno Senna exits pitlane in the first HRT for the very first time. Kubica is now up to P3 ahead of Massa as the drivers begin their final fifteen minutes of play.

Michael Schumacher returns to the track while Timo Glock’s Lotus is really holding up traffic. Mark Webber finally comes back out as well after being in the pits for some time. The clock ticks down and the track is full of life as they all scramble for times in the final minutes.

The session comes to a close and Sutil stays on top, the Force India drivers best time over a second faster than Michael Schumacher in P10.