More frustration for McLaren in first practice session in Bahrain

McLaren's stuttering start to the 2015 Formula One season continued at the Bahrain Grand Prix as Jenson Button spun out of first practice on Friday.

After struggling to get much testing time prior to the first race in Australia, McLaren have been near the back of the field in the opening three races.

Neither Button or Fernando Alonso have collected a world championship point so far, and the former's prospects in Bahrain were dealt a blow early on in Friday's 90-minute session.

The 2009 world champion spun and stalled his car at the first turn on the Sakhir circuit, and remained in the garage thereafter as his mechanics worked on his car.

Alonso gave McLaren some reason to be hopeful as he recorded the sixth-fastest time, but it was his former team Ferrari setting the pace.

Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel topped the timesheets after the opening 90 minutes of the weekend, with Valtteri Bottas completing the top three, half a second behind Raikkonen.

Meanwhile, defending champions Mercedes chose to focus on different set-ups during the session, and as a result Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton were 15th and 16th respectively.

FP1 classification:

1. Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari) 1:37.827 2. Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari) 1:38.029 3. Valtteri Bottas (Williams) 1:38.390 4. Carlos Sainz (Toro Rosso) 1:38.447 5. Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull) 1:38.455 6. Max Verstappen (Toro Rosso) 1:38.504 7. Fernando Alonso (McLaren) 1:38.598 8. Felipe Nasr (Sauber) 1:38.628 9. Daniil Kvyat (Red Bull) 1:38.661 10. Felipe Massa (Williams) 1:38.790