Red Bull believes the entire Formula 1 grid is "really close" after an intriguing practice day at the Bahrain Grand Prix.

World champion Max Verstappen led Charles Leclerc by just 0.09s under the night-time floodlights at Sakhir, albeit with a half-second gap back to Carlos Sainz in P3 in the other Ferrari.

But with less than 1.5s covering the top 12 (and likely more come qualifying), the competitiveness of the 2022 grid at the very start of these new regulations is encouraging.

“It’s good: I think that’s in general what everyone wants, right? The teams a bit closer together, and I think over time they will only get closer, so that’s good," Verstappen said.

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"You can see Ferrari is pushing hard, they're very close so that's very exciting as well.

"We will have to wait and see with engine modes tomorrow as well from all the teams to really see where we're at."

Reflecting on his Friday, the Dutchman added: "It felt really good. We've been testing here so overall you are in a better window to start with.

"We tried a few things on the car and they all seemed to be working well. Straightforward and smooth day so I'm really happy with that.

"It felt really good on both short and long runs, basically whatever happens in the short run you try to then correct in the long run but the car was doing all of it. Very pleased."

Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez was a second slower than Verstappen in P7 and is anticipating a melee of action throughout the grid on Sunday.

“It is really close," commented the Mexican. "The race will be a lot closer, so it will be good racing all around. I think tomorrow we will have a good picture come Q3 – we will see where everyone is."