Nico Rosberg continues form to lead after opening practice in Bahrain

Nico Rosberg followed up his season-opening victory in Australia to lead the way in opening practice for the Bahrain Grand Prix.

Rosberg, winner of the last four races stretching back to last year, was more than half-a-second clear of Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton at the Sakhir Circuit.

The Silver Arrows appear to hold an ominous advantage over the rest of the field with Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen — the next-best placed driver — nearly two seconds slower than Rosberg’s best lap of one minute and 32.294 seconds.

Indeed Rosberg's fastest time was more than a quarter-of-a-second faster than Hamilton's pole lap here last year. Sebastian Vettel finished 11th, as Ferrari opted to use the more durable, albeit slower, medium tyre compound during the opening session.

The rain which paid an unexpected visit to the Island Kingdom on Thursday was nowhere to be seen for opening practice, but the relatively cool 21 degree air temperature, and overcast skies, meant the conditions were more representative of those expected for Sunday’s floodlit race.

Fernando Alonso, a winner here on three occasions, was forced to watch the opening action of the weekend as a spectator in the McLaren garage after he was sidelined with a rib injury sustained in his high-speed Melbourne crash.

His late withdrawal has paved the way for Stoffel Vandoorne, the highly-rated McLaren reserve driver, to take his grand prix bow this weekend.

The 24-year-old Belgian, last year’s GP2 champion, hastily dropped his Super Formula testing commitments in Japan to catch an overnight flight to Bahrain.

He arrived in the Gulf Kingdom early on Friday morning — hardly the ideal preparation for his Formula One debut — and, after an error in which he ran wide at turn 11, Vandoorne ended the session in 18th, four seconds slower than Rosberg, and the best part of one second adrift of his McLaren team-mate Jenson Button, 14th in the standings.

The Red Bull duo of Daniel Ricciardo and Daniil Kvyat were fourth and fifth respectively on the timesheets with Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg, Carlos Sainz and Max Verstappen, both of Toro Rosso, Haas driver Romain Grosjean, and the Williams of Felipe Massa completing the top 10.

Britain’s Jolyon Palmer, who impressed on his debut in Melbourne, was 20th here, 4.6 seconds off the pace.