There's some real pace being shown today. It looks like Nico Rosberg's 1:32.294 is going to be the fastest time of FP1.

Tom Clarkson
BBC Radio 5 live commentator

"Stoffel is absolutely perfectly positioned in his pit box for the guys to make a change to the tyres. They will have been impressed with his positioning. If it is a foot two long everything has to shuffle on and you lose time. That was impressive."

Stoffel Vandoorne's best time is a 1:36.719 - the 18th quickest time of the session. He is one of a handful of drivers out on medium tyres as FP1 enters the closing stages. Sebastian Vettel is one of the other drivers with a whire-walled tyres on. He hasn't had a stab at a lap on the softs at all yet. 

A big lock up for Felipe Massa, whose front left is looking a bit ragged. He's on his 10th lap on his current set of softs.

Image source, Getty Images

Tom Clarkson
BBC Radio 5 live commentator

"It looks like McLaren are going to get ready for a pit stop practice, that is something Stoffel Vandoorne will not have had chance to do. So much can be won and lost in the pit stop. I am expecting them any minute now to give Stoffel that vital experience ahead of Sunday's race, which could be a two-stopper."

Softs on, Kimi Raikkonen goes third fastest with 1:34.128, but is 1.8s down on Nico Rosberg's benchmark time.

Romain Grosjean has just lost a bit of bodywork from his Haas. It looks like it is the fuel filler cap that has flitted away.

Meanwhile, improvements from Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton as they dip below 1:33. They are now two seconds clear of the pack.

It looks like Kimi Raikkonen is slipping on some soft boots now...

Kimi Raikkonen clocked the fastest lap in FP1 last year in Bahrain with a 1:37.827. Nico Rosberg's best time is already four seconds quicker than that.   

Neither Raikkonen or Sebastian Vettel - 13th and 14th quickest respectively at the moment - have reached for the faster softs yet. 

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

A little over 20 minutes to go and no-one is getting close to the times Mercedes set early doors. Red Bull are the best of the rest of the moment, with Daniel Ricciardo third fastest after clocking a 1:34.461, 0.8s adrift of Mercedes. Daniil Kvyat (1:34.541) is fourth fastest.

Image source, Getty Images

You probably didn't expect to see a picture of the Rolling Stones on this page, but here we are.

The reason? Bernie Ecclestone has told BBC Sport that Formula 1 is "cheating" its fans because the quality of the show is poor.

"Imagine if people turned up to watch the Rolling Stones and Mick (Jagger) couldn't sing and the others couldn't play their instruments," he said.

You can read more from Ecclestone in a wide-ranging interview here.

Pascal Wehrlein is currently propping up the timesheet. His fastest lap is a 1:38.292 - just over a tenth of a second slower than Manor team-mate Rio Haryanto. 

Wehrlein has been touted as a future F1 star - mentioned in the same breath as Michael Schumacher by some - but he was out qualified by Haryanto in Australia. Tis early days though.

The silence is broken as out pops Kevin Magnussen. Not far behind him is Stoffel Vandoorne and Alfonso Celis.

That's K-Mag, The Stoff and The Fonz out on track. The three best nicknames in F1? 

It isn't just the newbies who have had the odd spot of bother negotiating the Sakhir circuit, as Romain Grosjean - who guided Haas to a sixth-place finish at the season-opening Australian GP - shows here.

After Sebastian Vettel got water all down his race suit this morning, it's good to see you've been quick to let the Ferrari man he is not alone in having drinks-related accidents. 

What is the worst thing you could spill on yourself? Tomato soup? It has to be up there.

Halfway through the session and the track is empty. 

Jenson Button, who could be on a bit of a mission to prove his worth this weekend, was the third fastest man on the track in the first part of the session after a 1:35.440.