Ferrari have dominated the first practice session ahead of the Bahrain Grand Prix courtesy of Felipe Massa clocking the quickest time and Fernando Alonso recording the second-best figures.

Massa clinched a personal best in the first sector and whizzed around the track in the second to go quickest by 0.077s with a time of 1:34.487.

Behind Alonso, Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg was able to set the third fastest time on the dusty track with a time of 1:34.621, while Malaysian Grand Prix winner and reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel finished 0.303s behind his Mercedes opponent.

Vettel's Red Bull teammate Mark Webber clocked the seventh-fastest time in the warm and sunny conditions in Bahrain, while Lewis Hamilton, who took a practice start at the end of the pit lane, secured the 13th-quickest time of 1:35.792.

First practice results:

1. Felipe Massa (Ferrari)
2. Fernando Alonso (Ferrari)
3. Nico Rosberg (Mercedes)
4. Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull)
5. Paul di Resta (Force India)
6. Jenson Button (McLaren)
7. Mark Webber (Red Bull)
8. Adrian Sutil (Force India)
9. Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus)
10. Romain Grosjean (Lotus)
11. Sergio Perez (McLaren)
12. Valterri Bottas (Williams)
13. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
14. Jean-Eric Vergne (Toro Rosso)
15. Daniel Ricciardo (Toro Rosso)
16. Pastor Maldonado (Williams)
17. Nico Hulkenberg (Sauber)
18. Esteban Gutierrez (Sauber)
19. Charles Pic (Caterham)
20. Heikki Kovalainen (Caterham)
21. Max Chilton (Marussia)
22. Rodolfo Gonzalez (Marussia)