Hamilton: Daytime Bahrain practice "terrible" and "a waste"

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton says daytime Friday practice in Bahrain is "a waste of a session", as the heat makes the cars "horrible to drive".

The Bahrain Grand Prix joined the F1 calendar in 2004 and became a night race from 2014 onwards.

With the regular F1 weekend schedule in place, FP2, qualifying and the race itself are thus run in cooler conditions in the evening – but Friday's opening practice and Saturday's sole practice sessions are run in of daytime.

Hamilton says scorching heat during FP1 this Friday has meant there was nothing to learn from the session, as he believes the tyres are not suited to running in such conditions.

"It's always weird, I don't know why we have FP1 where every time we have it, but it's at the worst time of day, because it's so hot, 60-degree track, it's kind of a waste of a session, really," Hamilton said.

"We go out, it's so hard on the car, it's not a problem for us drivers but it's tough on the tyres."

He added: "It's horrible to drive, it's not fun, the tyres are melting and you're sliding around with no grip. You put a chocolate bar on the track, it would melt in a minute and that's what it's like for the tyres.

"You don't really learn anything, because then you go into FP2 and it's completely different."

Haas driver Kevin Magnussen echoed Hamilton's sentiment, saying there was not much to be taken from FP1 given the difference in weather conditions.

"[We were] learning more from P2 really, because FP1 was extremely hot and there's not much we can use, because qualifying and the race is going to be in the dark," Magnussen said.

"[It] is extremely hot and the tyres don't behave very well, it's difficult to do any laps - also because the brakes, engine, gearbox, everything overheats, you can only do one lap and then you have to cool down."