Mercedes are expected to dominate in the Gulf region and they got their weekend off to the perfect start as Hamilton led home a one-two for the Silver Arrows.

Hamilton and Rosberg completed just 27 laps between them with the former clocking 1:37.502 to top the timesheets.

Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso had enjoyed a brief spell at the top, but he had to settle for third 0.451s behind Hamilton.

The Force India of Nico Hulkenberg came through in fourth with Jenson Button posting the fifth fastest time of the session in his McLaren ahead of the Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen.

Kevin Magnussen in the second Ferrari was seventh, while Daniil Kvyat and Sergio Perez  were eighth and ninth for Toro Rosso and Force India respectively.

World champion Sebastian Vettel had to settle for tenth, 1.887s off the pace of Mercedes and he will need to improve significantly if he is to challenge on Sunday.

Bahrain Grand Prix – Practice 1 Results:
Pos Driver                Team                    Time       Gap     Laps
 1. Lewis Hamilton        Mercedes                1m37.502s            14
 2. Nico Rosberg          Mercedes                1m37.733s  +0.231s   13
 3. Fernando Alonso       Ferrari                 1m37.953s  +0.451s   17
 4. Nico Hulkenberg       Force India-Mercedes    1m38.122s  +0.620s   10
 5. Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes        1m38.636s  +1.134s   16
 6. Kimi Raikkonen        Ferrari                 1m38.783s  +1.281s   12
 7. Kevin Magnussen       McLaren-Mercedes        1m38.949s  +1.447s   15
 8. Daniil Kvyat          Toro Rosso-Renault      1m39.056s  +1.554s   24
 9. Sergio Perez          Force India-Mercedes    1m39.102s  +1.600s   21
10. Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault        1m39.389s  +1.887s   16
11. Felipe Massa          Williams-Mercedes       1m39.533s  +2.031s   11
12. Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Renault      1m39.862s  +2.360s   26
13. Felipe Nasr           Williams-Mercedes       1m40.078s  +2.576s   14
14. Daniel Ricciardo      Red Bull-Renault        1m40.406s  +2.904s   19
15. Adrian Sutil          Sauber-Ferrari          1m40.652s  +3.150s   20
16. Pastor Maldonado      Lotus-Renault           1m40.793s  +3.291s   31
17. Jules Bianchi         Marussia-Ferrari        1m40.$89s  +3.387s   20
18. Giedo van der Garde   Sauber-Ferrari          1m40.913s  +3.411s   20
19. Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault           1m41.036s  +3.534s   24
20. Max Chilton           Marussia-Ferrari        1m41.794s  +4.292s   20
21. Robin Frijns          Caterham-Renault        1m42.417s  +4.915s   35
22. Marcus Ericsson       Caterham-Renault        1m42.711s  +5.209s   21