Good morning and welcome to ESPNF1's coverage of the Bahrain Grand Prix. It's been a few years since a season started with such a high level of anticipation and also where so many teams and drivers appear to be in with a real shout of honours. And then there are the three newcomers, all very much unknown quantities ...what will they bring to the party?

The first free practice session starts in about 50 minutes, so it's a hive of activity at the circuit ...

A little while ago all the teams had one of their cars staged on the grid along with all of the drivers for a pre-season group photo. Michael Schumacher used the opportunity to go and greet some of his old Ferrari crew who were on the grid.

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Twelve minutes to go. HRT have no seats on their pit wall set up ... is it that the engineers are not planning on being there too long? We are told it's 35 degrees out on the track, which is a lot more tolerable than the 50 degrees for the practice back in 2004.

The drivers getting in cars for the installation laps, so we are almost ready to go for the 2010 season ...

Jenson Button is strapped in to his McLaren

And we have the green light ... Truli in the Lotus is the first out

Heikki Kovalainen is looking very tentative in the new Lotus as he gets passed by the Toro Rossos on track

Schumacher is getting ready in the pits, putting on his famous bright red helmet.

Kobayashi hits the track in the Sauber, which is still devoid of any sponsorship

Both Red Bulls take to the track, followed by Button

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Christian Horner is still fuming about the McLaren's controversial rear-wing design and says he won't be protesting after the race. Which is good given it's been cleared by the FIA! Horner did admit he would be trying to copy it asap. He also did not rule out other teams might be thinking about another protest.

Hamilton and Schumacher join the action, stopping at the pit lane exit to perform a practice start

"Installation laps completed - all good so far on a dirty track" reports Lotus

HRT is working frantically in the garage, as it has been all weekend, to try and get the car out on track in this session. So we still haven't seen the newest car.

Most drivers are completing just a single installation lap to get their cars' systems up and running before returning to the pits

"My car is almost ready to go," says HRT's Senna. "We'll soon be out and we'll see how it goes." But Chandhok's car is not ready and he might miss the first session. The mechanics have been up all night but there still seems to be a long way to go

"Installation laps ok. Now in garage for quite a while," reports Torro Rosso

Timo Glock leaving the pits for the first time

Tonio Liuzzi is sitting at the back of the Force India garage as mechanics continue to prepare his car. Back to Chandhok ...his HRT has hydraulic problems

Fernando Alonso is in deep discussion with his engineers as his car is worked on in the Ferrari garage

The track is now fairly empty ... the cars have been out and most are soon back in their garages for tweaks.

"How did Shuey goes on his first lap, did he look nervous," asks Glen Morais. He wasn't out there long but he looked fairly stable, although like the others he certainly wasn't overdoing it.

Nobody out on the track at the moment, so after a burst of activity, it's all (relatively) quiet. Michael Schumacher is chatting with his race engineer Andrew Shovelin

Everyone's been out at least once so far except Senna and Chandhok's HRTs and Lucas di Grassi in the Virgin

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Kovalainen out on track in the Lotus, he'll be looking to rack up as many laps as possible in the new car

The more cars out in the early stages the better, as it puts rubber down on the circuit and encourages more drivers to venture out

"Any information about the amount of fuel this guys are carrying this free practice?" asks Vher De Vera. Unfortunately there is no way of knowing what they are running. The first time we'll see them all on a level playing field will be in qualifying when they'll run with very low fuel

Towards the end of the session we might see some low-fuel times but it's very hard to be sure

"What are the set up procedures for practice 1? Are teams trying to dial in wing/suspension / ride height? How much different will the set up be with the new turns?" asks Greg Hamilton. All the team's will be running initial systems checks - essentially checking the car is working. Then they might start to do initial set-up work but the as the track is still dirty they'll do most of that in second free practice when more rubber is down. As for the new section, it's all high downforce and adds another challenge for the engineers.

Click here to check out our preview of the race weekend and click here to let us know what you think of the new format!

The McLaren is back out on track with its controversial wing design. It's all been passed by the FIA so expect the other teams to create copycat designs over the next few races.

Jarno Trulli back out as Kovalainen clocks a 2:05.466s.

"From your information is there any chance to see HRT Racing on the track in this free practice session?" asks Mircea Dumitrascu. "My car is almost ready to go," said HRT's Senna a few minutes back. "We'll soon be out and we'll see how it goes." But Chandhok's car is not ready - hydraulic problems - and he will almost certainly miss the first session.

Hamilton clocks a 1:57.759 the fastest time so far. Although his only competition is the Lotuses so far.

Button is also on the circuit and starts his first flying lap

He's faster than Hamilton in the first sector

Kubica's Renault laps in 1:59.229s.

Button sets a 1:57.903, slower than Hamilton, but the McLarens are a 1.5 seconds faster than anyone else

But it's still very early days, expect the times to drop even further before the end of the session

Remember the teams are also just getting used to the tyres in these hot conditions. At one point they will all run very heavy fuel loads to see how quickly the rubber wears out with all that extra weight (160 KG) on board.

Tonio Liuzzi comes out along with several others, the Mercedes of Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher among them.

Michael Schumacher completes his first flying lap on his return ... he goes into fourth with 1:58.762s.

Button is now fastest with a 1:57.068

More than a dozen cars back out now

"How much slower can we expect the Lap times to be compared to last year's qual time - 1'33.431," asks Stephen Cox. The answer is quite a bit as we can see. The extension to the track will take lap times to close on two minutes. The times will also vary massively depending on the fuel load

Kovalainen's car is bottoming out. He is probably running a very heavy fuel load.

Vettel runs off the track in the new tight section. No damage done but the car looked very clumsy.

Rosberg is faster than Schumacher. But Schumacher is bottoming out which suggests a heavy fuel load.

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Alonso is now fastest with a 1:56.909. He's ahead of Felipe Massa in second.

Force India has got off to a good start. Sutil is fourth fastest. They could be this weekend's surprise package.

Kovalainen complains about his cockpit overheating and a burnt bottom. He's been brought into the pits for the problem to be addressed.

Still no sign from HRT. Senna's car remains up on jacks in the garage.

Sutil fastest now with a 1:56.888

Bruno Senna is now in his cockpit and looks ready to go.

A quick turn around by the HRT team from a few minutes ago.

Senna on track, jiggling around in the cockpit like an excited schoolboy as he heads down the pit lane.

He looks quite high in the cockpit, HRT has had very little time to prepare this car and make it comfortable for the drivers.

Craig Simpson makes a good point: "Looks like the Red Bull RB'6s are missing the top speed. I think the new section of Bahrain with its stops starts may exacerbate this." The new section requires higher downforce which creates more drag down the straight and lower top speeds.

Of course if you are McLaren you find a way around it with a trick rear wing.

Lots of interest surrounding ride heights and the possibility of adjustable suspension to cope with it.

When the cars are very heavy they are bottoming out, which is not good.

Schumacher has been in deep discussions with his team and doesn't look to happy about the car's handling.

He's still around 0.5s off team-mate Rosberg

A queue is forming behind one di Grassi's Virgin on track. It's visibly slower.

Glock is the only Virgin driver to have completed a lap and its the slowest of all. About three seconds off the Lotus' pace.

Quite a few drivers are unhappy with a big bump through turn six that really rattles the cars

Lots of cars on track as we enter the last five minutes of the session.

Mark Webber sets his best time with a 1:57.255. Only good enough for ninth place though.

Kubica pops a quick time in. His Renault is now third fastest.

Sutil, Alonso, Kubica, Massa, Button is the order at the front.

Very little to pick between the McLaren drivers. Button is just 0.050 seconds faster.

Chequered flag out. Alonso just starts a quick lap in time.

Senna on track and looks like he will complete his first flying lap.

Alonso bails out on that lap. Sutil still fastest.

Senna also bails out and that is the end of first practice.

Sutil fastest followed by Alonso, Kubica, Massa, Button and Hamilton

Thanks for joining us. We'll be back at 2.00pm (11.00am GMT) for more from the Bahrain International Circuit.