April 1, 2016 – Nico Rosberg started his Bahrain Grand Prix weekend in the best way possible as he topped the times in the first free practice session this afternoon. Rosberg clocked 1 minute 32.294 seconds to beat his Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton by half a second.
| Pos | Driver | Car | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1m32.294s | – | 24 |
| 2 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1m32.799s | 0.505s | 24 |
| 3 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1m34.128s | 1.834s | 16 |
| 4 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull/TAG Heuer | 1m34.461s | 2.167s | 27 |
| 5 | Daniil Kvyat | Red Bull/TAG Heuer | 1m34.541s | 2.247s | 30 |
| 6 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India/Mercedes | 1m34.601s | 2.307s | 28 |
| 7 | Carlos Sainz | Toro Rosso/Ferrari | 1m34.793s | 2.499s | 21 |
| 8 | Max Verstappen | Toro Rosso/Ferrari | 1m34.860s | 2.566s | 19 |
| 9 | Romain Grosjean | Haas/Ferrari | 1m35.000s | 2.706s | 18 |
| 10 | Felipe Massa | Williams/Mercedes | 1m35.006s | 2.712s | 19 |
| 11 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1m35.073s | 2.779s | 14 |
| 12 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams/Mercedes | 1m35.174s | 2.880s | 21 |
| 13 | Esteban Gutierrez | Haas/Ferrari | 1m35.309s | 3.015s | 19 |
| 14 | Jenson Button | McLaren/Honda | 1m35.440s | 3.146s | 28 |
| 15 | Kevin Magnussen | Renault | 1m35.490s | 3.196s | 27 |
| 16 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber/Ferrari | 1m35.728s | 3.434s | 30 |
| 17 | Pascal Wehrlein | Manor/Mercedes | 1m36.371s | 4.077s | 26 |
| 18 | Stoffel Vandoorne | McLaren/Honda | 1m36.392s | 4.098s | 25 |
| 19 | Felipe Nasr | Sauber/Ferrari | 1m36.719s | 4.425s | 24 |
| 20 | Jolyon Palmer | Renault | 1m36.939s | 4.645s | 28 |
| 21 | Alfonso Celis | Force India/Mercedes | 1m37.287s | 4.993s | 23 |
| 22 | Rio Haryanto | Manor/Mercedes | 1m37.714s | 5.420s | 27 |
