Big wobble for Alfonso Celis. His Force India snaps left, then right and is into the gravel. Celis hits the brakes and tiptoes back onto the circuit.

Get this picture in the National Gallery. Amazing shot.

The Ferraris pit. They are two seconds down on Mercedes - with Kimi Raikkonen and Sebstian Vettel seventh and eighth fastest respectively. They've set their times on the medium tyres, though, with Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg having been out on softs.

Drama for Sebastian Vettel. He's just spilled his drinks bottle in his Ferrari and has damp trousers. We've all been there, Seb.

Image source, Getty Images

1) Rosberg 2) Hamilton 3) Button 4) Hulkenberg 5) Bottas 6) Verstappen 7) Raikkonen 8) Vettel 9) Grosjean 10) Ricciardo

Everyone bar Alfonso Celis has completed at least one timed lap. 

Stoffel Vandoorne currently has the 16th fastest time with a 1:36.893 while Nico Rosberg still leads the way with that 1:33.592 he set earlier in the session.

Stoffel Vandoorne gets a first taste of the run-off area in Bahrain as tackles Turn 11 with too much speed and locks up. Felipe Massa then locks up at Turn 9 but no major drama for the Williams.

Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer in Bahrain

The open letter the drivers wrote asking for reform in Formula 1 has inevitably been a focus of the weekend so far. Lewis Hamilton explained as well as anyone why it had been written. “I don’t have all the answers,” the world champion said. “The same as you won’t have all the answers, just as Bernie wont have all the answers, none of us have all the answers. We all have an opinion about something, it’s picking out what the good parts and the right opinions are. Us as drivers, we just wanted to be included a little bit. Not included in making the decisions, but let’s give you our input so you know what our limitation in the car is.

“As a driver, I know why it’s hard for me to overtake, I know what’s good on my car, I know what’s not good on my car which is how I help the team develop and there’s things that need to be better. From the 10 years of my experience, Jenson’s got 16 years, Fernando has perhaps 13 whatever years experience of Formula 1, from all those years trying different things we know what’s not been good, whether it be tyres, downforce, engines, whatever it may be. I grew up racing karts, and karting is the wheel-to-wheel battling, bumper-to-bumper almost and overtaking from lap to lap, that’s what we want to see. The race I had here in 2014 was the most exciting Formula 1 race I’ve ever had, we need that more often, if not every weekend.”

The to-ing and fro-ing with the qualifying format in part contributed to F1 drivers writing an open letter recently demanding change at the top of the sport, saying its decision-making process is "obsolete and ill-structured".

The letter claimed that some recent decisions are "disruptive", avoid "the bigger issues" and "could jeopardise F1's success".

You can read more on this here.

Image source, Getty Images

Spare a thought for Nico Rosberg.

He gets his world title challenge up and running in style with victory at the Australian Grand Prix, but all anyone is pretty much talking about is qualifying.

It seemed as those controversial elimination system had been scrapped after a farcical outing in Melbourne, but it is back for Bahrain.

Yes, today is 1 April and no, this is not an April Fools Day prank...

The first timed laps from Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton puts them first and second on the timesheet respectively. Rosberg is leading the way with a 1:33.592, with Hamilton clocking a 1:33.673.

Fernando Alonso may not be racing this weekend, but he is sticking around to pass on his wisdom to Stoffel Vandoorne.

The Red Bulls are topping an embryonic timesheet, with Daniel Ricciardo leading the way with 1:36.256 and Daniil Kvyat's first flyer three tenths off Ricciardo's pace.

Install lap done, Nico Rosberg is about to crack on with his first flyer, while Lewis Hamilton is emerging for the first time.

Fifteen minutes in and the first Mercedes emerges from the garage, Nico Rosberg heading out on the soft compound tyres.

Daniel Ricciardo and Pascal Wehrlein are also out on the track, while Alfonso Celis - Force India's development driver - is making his official debut. 

Celis, who got some laps in during testing, is deputising for Sergio Perez.

Image source, Getty Images

I watched a programme not too long ago about a honey badger called Stoffel. Right crafty character he was, constantly finding new and inventive ways of escaping his enclosure at a wildlife conservation centre in South Africa.

If Stoffel Vandoorne is half as awesome as Stoffel the honey badger then he will be my new favourite driver in no time.

Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer

It’s fair to say that Jenson Button’s media session on Thursday afternoon was somewhat strained. Short answers, defensive body language, that sort of thing. Button did not say why, but it wasn’t hard to hazard a guess. Stoffel Vandoorne, as one paddock sage remarked, was probably the last thing Button needed. Quick, highly rated and ambitious, the Belgian already had a decent chance of replacing the 2009 world champion at McLaren at the end of this year, when Button’s contract expires and Fernando Alonso’s does not. If he excels this weekend - and perhaps in another race if Alonso is not fit for China - it could be curtains for Button’s career.

“Stoffel is a very experienced driver, he’s raced here a couple of times and he won here last year (in GP2)," Button said. “He’s worked with this team a lot, tested quite a bit, so he understands the car, he understands the team and the way of working. There are a few things for him to learn but more in terms of controls and what have you for qualifying and the race. He knows what a racing car is; I’m sure he’ll be fine.”