Norris leads the pack into Bahrain with Verstappen hot on his heels

“It doesn’t take much of a mistake from us — or from myself — to let the others in,” said Piastri, who finished ninth in Melbourne after running wide and letting a podium slip through his fingers.

Mercedes’ George Russell, who made his Mercedes debut at Sakhir in 2020, was third in Australia and China while 18-year-old rookie teammate Andrea Kimi Antonelli became the youngest race leader and fastest lap setter last weekend.

Lewis Hamilton, now at Ferrari, has won a record five times at Sakhir — all with Mercedes — while teammate Charles Leclerc finished first in 2022.

Ferrari, stunned by a double disqualification in China, have yet to get on the podium this season, though Hamilton won the Shanghai sprint.

“We get the opportunity to see how much progress we have made with the SF-25 in extracting its potential since we were last here for the preseason test at the end of February,” said team boss Fred Vasseur.

At the back, Renault-owned Alpine can end their scoring blank and there will also be some less familiar names on the timing screens in Friday first practice.

Sweden’s Ferrari Academy driver Dino Beganovic makes his F1 race weekend debut in Leclerc’s car for the opening session while Briton Luke Browning gets a run in Carlos Sainz’s Williams.

Brazilian Felipe Drugovich will be in Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin, Mercedes have Denmark’s Frederik Vesti in George Russell’s car and Haas give Japanese Ryo Hirakawa his second Friday outing in two races after he switched from Alpine.