The first day of the new season is now done and dusted, with testing proving, well… testing for both our drivers.
There wasn't as much running as had been hoped with Mark managing 12 laps before a precautionary stop for his gear box ended his afternoon with the 17th quickest time. Sebastian had an afternoon disrupted by his brakes but was still fifth fastest at the end of the day.
Vettel said: "I would have liked more track time, but it's not Christmas and we're not given things for free. We have a lot of work to do, but we know where we need to improve, so we will work on that."
And Mark recognised the fight ahead: "We'll have to re-group, get what we can out of today and then focus on tomorrow. You can already see it's going to be bloody competitive this year - it's going to be a good fight out there."
Topping the table was the (other) Mercedes driver, Nico Rosberg followed by Lewis Hamilton of McLaren, then Mercedes' Michael Schumacher and Jenson Button.
It was a good day for the rookies with both former GP2 drivers Hulkenberg and Petrov faster than their respective team-mates at Williams and Renault. Less good news for HRT’s Chandhok who has still yet to actually record a time.
There's one more test session tomorrow morning before the season's first Qualifying at 2pm local time.
Bahrain Grand Prix: Friday Practice:
Sebastian Vettel
First Practice Session
Position: 13, Best Time: 1:57.943, Laps: 17, Chassis No. 3
Second Practice Session
Position: 5, Best Time: 1:56.459, Laps: 18, Chassis No. 3
Mark Webber
First Practice Session
Position: 9, Best Time: 1:57.255, Laps: 17, Chassis No. 2
Second Practice Session
Position: 17, Best Time 2:00.444, Laps: 12, Chassis No. 2
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