Formula 1 started their 2023 season this weekend at the Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir, Bahrain.

Friday in Sakhir included two free practice sessions with FP2 more indicative of the racing conditions the teams will see on Sunday.

In FP2 all teams set their test times on soft tires with Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso leading the field with a lap time of 1:30.907 seconds.

Alonso was followed by the Red Bull's of Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez both about 0.0171 seconds behind the leader.

Aston Martin and Red Bull had impressive performances during track testing the previous weekend.

"It felt good to drive the car today and it is nice to see both cars high up on the timing sheets especially after only three days of Testing," said Alonso. "The team is working together well, and we are still learning a lot about the new car. I think it will not be clear who is on top until after this weekend and probably into the first couple of races at different tracks."

Alonso's teammate, Lance Stroll, who did not participate in the last weekend's test sessions, was sixth quickest in FP2 on Friday.

Ferrari's Charles Leclerc was fourth quickest followed by a surprising time of 1:31:376 from Haas Racing's new arrival, F1 veteran, Nico Hulkenberg.

"Our first day of free practice went OK. We completed a lot of laps and I feel more and more comfortable in the car, which is positive," said Leclerc. "It is still difficult to tell where we stand as everyone seems to have been running very different plans, but we are focusing on ourselves and will keep pushing in the right direction."

"Everything we learned at the test, today we could use. For FP1 we went out and made some set-up changes while continuing to learn. In FP2, which is obviously closer to the conditions we'll have in qualifying, Nico did a very good job and Kevin worked around some further set-up changes, and I think there is more to come from him tomorrow," said Guenther Steiner, Haas Team Principal.

"Hopefully it will be a good day, but all-in-all we're making good progress in learning about the car - the car is very reliable, which is a plus," added Steiner.

Name			Team		Tyres	Laps	Time		Gap

1	Alonso		Aston Martin	S	1:30.907	133.176 mph
2	Verstappen	Red Bull	S	1:31.076	0.169
3	Perez		Red Bull	S	1:31.078	0.171
4	Leclerc		Ferrari		S	1:31.367	0.460
5	Hulkenberg	Haas		S	1:31.376	0.469
6	Stroll		Aston Martin	S	1:31.450	0.543
7	Gasly		Alpine		S	1:31.475	0.568
8	Hamilton	Mercedes	S	1:31.543	0.636
9	Norris		McLaren		S	1:31.570	0.663
10	Zhou		Alfa Romeo	S	1:31.586	0.679
11	Ocon		Alpine		S	1:31.608	0.701
12	Bottas		Alfa Romeo	S	1:31.793	0.886
13	Russell		Mercedes	S	1:31.882	0.975
14	Sainz		Ferrari		S	1:31.956	1.049
15	Piastri		McLaren		S	1:32.024	1.117
16	Magnussen	Haas		S	1:32.110	1.203
17	Albon		Williams	S	1:32.440	1.533
18	Tsunoda		AlphaTauri	S	1:32.525	1.618
19	de Vries	AlphaTauri	S	1:32.605	1.698
20	Sargeant	Williams	S	1:32.749	1.842

Name			Team		Tyres	Laps	Time		Gap

1	Perez		Red Bull	S	1:32.758	130.518 mph
2	Alonso		Aston Martin	S	1:33.196	0.438
3	Verstappen	Red Bull	S	1:33.375	0.617
4	Norris		McLaren		S	1:34.165	1.407
5	Leclerc		Ferrari		M	1:34.257	1.499
6	Stroll		Aston Martin	S	1:34.298	1.540
7	Magnussen	Haas		S	1:34.402	1.644
8	Zhou		Alfa Romeo	S	1:34.575	1.817
9	Bottas		Alfa Romeo	S	1:34.689	1.931
10	Hamilton	Mercedes	M	1:34.917	2.159
11	Russell		Mercedes	M	1:34.966	2.208
12	Piastri		McLaren		S	1:34.997	2.239
13	Tsunoda		AlphaTauri	S	1:35.015	2.257
14	Hulkenberg	Haas		S	1:35.043	2.285
15	Ocon		Alpine		M	1:35.105	2.347
16	de Vries	AlphaTauri	S	1:35.402	2.644
17	Gasly		Alpine		M	1:35.455	2.697
18	Sargeant	Williams	M	1:35.749	2.991
19	Albon		Williams	M	1:36.018	3.260
20	Sainz		Ferrari	M	1:36.072	3.314

(image provided by Aston Martin F1 Media & Alpine F1 Media)