Lewis Hamilton has led teammate George Russell in a surprise Mercedes one-two at the top of the practice timesheets for Formula One's season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix, with world champion Max Verstappen only sixth.
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Australia's Oscar Piastri also enjoyed a good first day, finishing fifth in Thursday's second practice session in his McLaren, after a third-place effort in the much less significant morning session which had been topped by his compatriot, RB's Daniel Ricciardo.
The seven-times world champion Hamilton lapped the 5.4km floodlit Sakhir desert track in a best time of one minute 30.374 seconds with Russell 0.206 seconds adrift and Aston Martin's double world champion Fernando Alonso in third.
Reigning triple world champion Verstappen, who won in Bahrain last year and chalked up 19 victories in 22 races, was 0.477 off the pace.
"It's a shock to see us where we are but we'll take it for now," said Hamilton.
"But we can't get ahead of ourselves. We need to keep our heads down and keep working on the setup ... I think our long run pace is nowhere near the Red Bulls, for example, so we've got some work to do there.
Verstappen, who has led the Formula One standings for a record 39 races going back to May 2022, had headed into the weekend favourite to open his pursuit of a fourth consecutive title with victory on Saturday.
But he ended up sixth in both sessions.
Carlos Sainz was fourth for Ferrari ahead of Piastri, with Nico Hulkenberg's Haas in seventh ahead of Aston Martin's Lance Stroll.
Charles Leclerc was ninth in the other Ferrari while Verstappen's teammate Sergio Perez rounded out the top 10.
Ricciardo ended the day 12th for rebranded Red Bull sister team RB after going fastest in the opening session, run in unrepresentative conditions.
Hamilton said he was much happier in the Mercedes than last year, with a more comfortable seat position.
"I've got a better feel for the car approaching the corners but there are other areas that have been fixed and improved. It feels like a race car for once and the last two cars didn't feel like that," he added.
Russell refused to get carried away by the timesheets even if the qualifying pace looked strong.
"We still need to try and understand why it was so good, we made some changes from the test and it exceeded our expectations but ultimately (on) the long run pace, which is where it all happens, Max was still ahead of us," said the Briton.
"It was very close with Fernando, with Lando and the Ferraris and Lewis and I were very similar as well so we've got a real fight on our hands."
The race in Bahrain and the following round at Jeddah in Saudi Arabia a week later are being held on a Saturday to allow the Middle Eastern kingdoms to host races before the start of Ramadan. Qualifying will be held on Friday.
Australian Associated Press
