Lewis Hamilton, in the first race since becoming the most successful driver of all time, dominated first practice at the Bahrain Grand Prix. Hamilton was 0.449 seconds ahead of team-mate Valtteri Bottas in second place, with Racing Point's Sergio Perez in third, nearly a second off the pace. It was an unrepresentative session, not least because the teams spent some of it assessing 2021-specification tyres. It was held in daylight with qualifying and the race in the dark.