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McLaren's Lewis Hamilton headed Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel to set the pace in first practice at the Bahrain Grand Prix. The Englishman, who is leading the championship despite not having won any of the first three races, was 0.305 seconds quicker than the German. The world champion was ahead of Force India's Paul di Resta, who ran the softer of the two types of tyres. Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg was fifth from McLaren's Jenson Button. Force India's Nico Hulkenberg was sixth ahead of Mercedes' Michael Schumacher. Red Bull's Mark Webber, Lotus's Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean completed the top 10. Ferrari's Fernando Alonso, third in the championship behind Hamilton and Button following his win in Malaysia last month, was only 13th. The grand prix is taking place amid much controversy about the wisdom of racing in the Gulf state, where civil unrest has been continuing for more than a year. And after four Force India mechanics were caught up in an exchange of petrol bombs and tear gas between protestors and riot police on Wednesday, there was a heavy police and army presence on the route to the track on Friday. Continue reading the main story “ The Mercedes I think is now the quickest - particularly over one lap. Not sure they are quickest in race pace. ” Lewis Hamilton F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone, who had insisted before the race that he would be "very surprised if we have problems", visited the Force India team during first practice on Friday. Sources say the team are considering sitting out the second practice session because team members are refusing to travel in the dark, following the incident on Wednesday. Out on the track, the drivers continued as normal, with McLaren continuing to look on balance the strongest team and Red Bull and Mercedes their closest challengers. Rosberg arrived in Bahrain fresh from his maiden career victory in China last weekend, and his team are tipped to continue their strong form here. Hamilton said: "The Mercedes I think is now the quickest - particularly over one lap. Not sure they are quickest in race pace. "I think the Red Bull is probably the quickest in race pace. We have shown we have good qualifying pace and race pace. We are there or thereabouts and we have as good an opportunity as anyone." The teams will be concentrating a lot of their efforts in Friday's two 90-minute sessions on understanding the behaviour of their tyres. The 2012-specification Pirellis have proved especially sensitive and teams are struggling to keep them in the right operating range. The suspicion so far is that cool conditions favour Mercedes, while hotter temperatures are better for McLaren and Red Bull, but the picture is changing constantly so early in the season. Second practice starts at 1200 BST. BAHRAIN GRAND PRIX 2012, DAY ONE Friday 20 April: First practice 0800-0930 and second practice 1200-1330. BBC Radio 5 live sports extra and live text commentary on BBC Sport website. BAHRAIN GRAND PRIX 2012, DAY TWO Saturday 21 April: Third practice 0900-1000 BBC Radio 5 live sports extra; Qualifying 1200. BBC Radio 5 live and live text commentary on BBC Sport website; Qualifying replay 1720-1840 BBC One HD. BAHRAIN GRAND PRIX 2012, DAY THREE Sunday 22 April:: Race 1300 BBC Radio 5 live and live text commentary on BBC Sport website; Race replay 1700-1820 BBC1 HD; Highlights 0100-0220 BBC2 and Red Button.
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