Lewis Hamilton continued on Friday where he left off in Istanbul 12 days earlier by leading the way in opening practice at this weekend's Bahrain Grand Prix. The newly-crowned world champion clocked a fastest lap in 1 min 29.033sec to outpace Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas by 0.449sec. It was a rare show of Friday morning supremacy from the champion who has been outpaced by 'Mr Friday' Bottas for most of the second part of this season. Sergio Perez was third for Racing Point ahead of Ferrari-bound Carlos Sainz of McLaren, Alpha Tauri's Pierre Gasly and the two Red Bulls of Max Vertappen and Alex Albon. Esteban Ocon was eighth for Renault ahead of Lance Stroll in the second Racing Point and Daniel Ricciardo in the second Renault. The session was run in relatively cool conditions and featured only a few incidents as the drivers tackled the dusty track surface. The session began in very light rain, but nothing to trouble the teams or require any change of tyres. "It's spitting a little bit at the back, but nothing too bad," reported McLaren's Lando Norris during the opening laps. Hamilton swiftly took control with a lap in 1:31.014 only to be succeeded as fastest man by Albon and then Bottas before regaining top spot in 1:30.133 after half an hour's action. Leclerc was fastest last year (2019) for Ferrari in 1:27.866, an early target for the pace setters as they hit a rhythm. Both Leclerc and Grosjean had big 'moments' as they pushed for more pace and spun before pitting for fresh rubber. Verstappen also had a big spin at the final corner. "Ah, lovely," he said, deadpan. "I think the tyres are flat-spotted." Hamilton continued to trim his time ahead of Bottas and Perez as the temperature began to fall and the lights came on - in readiness for the second session to be run under floodlights. str/pb