The long winter break in Formula 1 has ended and the pilots returned to action with pre-season testing in Bahrain.
On the first day of the tests, in which all 10 teams participated, the teams had 8 hours for on-track work and -1 with no red flags. On a quiet day – by day standards – only the Williams drivers experienced incidents.
While Alexander Albon was stuck on the road with a fuel pump problem in the last minutes of the morning session, Logan Sargeant, who sat in the car in the afternoon session, did not have a problem-free day either.
Sargeant first experienced a spin moment coming into turn 10. Although the American pilot was able to stop the vehicle without hitting anything, a few minutes later, a problem occurred with the vehicle’s drive shaft and he had to come to the garage and his day ended early.
Pierre Gasly, Alpine A524
Photo: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images
As we mentioned, all teams except Williams had an uneventful day, which shows the maturity of the new cars.
Thanks to the absence of a red flag, all teams were able to complete their programs without any problems and had a productive day behind them.
Some of the drivers took the wheel in the morning, while the other part took the wheel in the afternoon. The fastest name in the morning session was Max Verstappen.
Morning episode report:
The name at the top remained unchanged in the afternoon section and Verstappen finished the first day of the season in first place.
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB20
Photo: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
In the afternoon, as the sun set, we drove under artificial lighting, especially towards the end. With the temperatures dropping and the track gaining momentum as the cars lapped, the conditions felt more ideal for driving and almost everyone had better times than they had in the morning.
At the end of the session, no one was able to lap with soft tires and an empty tank, everyone saved their hands and as we mentioned, Verstappen was the fastest.
Verstappen, who was in the car all day, lowered his time to 1:31.344 in the afternoon session and closed the day as the leader.
Chasing his fourth consecutive championship, the Dutch pilot seemed quite comfortable in the RB20 on day 1, when he completed 142 laps and did not have to fight with the car to find lap time. The RB20, which underwent a relatively major design change, presented a balanced image.
Lando Norris, McLaren MCL38
Photo: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
Lando Norris, who took over the car from his teammate in the afternoon session, was second, about 1.1 seconds behind Verstappen. Thus, McLaren had a very solid day behind and, unlike the last 2 years, was able to focus only on collecting data without struggling with reliability problems.
Carlos Sainz, who sat in the car in the afternoon just like Norris, took the 3rd place. In VCARB, Daniel Ricciardo showed us a little bit of the pace of the dark blue car and finished fourth. With the parts acquired from Red Bull, VCARB looks to have taken a big step forward this season. Gasly completed the top 5 in Alpine, while Lance Stroll was sixth in Aston Martin.
Charles Leclerc, Fernando Alonso and Oscar Piastri, who were on the track in the morning session, followed him. Guanyu Zhou, who drove in the afternoon, completed the top 10.
Zhou Guanyu, Kick Sauber C44
Photo: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
Logan Sargeant, whose day ended early, ranked 11th, while George Russell, who had the chance to drive the W15 all day long, ranked 12th. The British pilot completed 115 laps with the new Mercedes.
Yuki Tsunoda, Valtteri Bottas, Alexander Albon, Esteban Ocon, Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg, who took to the track in the morning session, completed the classification. Sergio Perez and Lewis Hamilton did not drive today, they will be in the car all day tomorrow.
The second day of the 2024 Bahrain pre-season tests will start on Thursday, February 22 at 10:00 GMT.
Day 1 result:
Row
Pilot
Set
Time
Difference
Should
Tyre
1
Max Verstappen
Red Bull
1:31.344s
142
C3
2
Lando Norris
Mclaren
1:32.484s
+1.140s
72
C3
3
Carlos Sainz
Ferrari
1:32.584s
+1.240s
69
C3
4
Daniel Ricciardo
RB
1:32.599s
+1.255s
51
C3
5
Pierre Gasly
Alpine
1:32.805s
+1.461s
60
C3
6
Lance Stroll
Aston Martin
1:33.007s
+1.663s
53
C3
7
Charles Leclerc
Ferrari
1:33.247s
+1.903s
64
C3
8
Fernando Alonso
Aston Martin
1:33.385s
+2.041s
77
C3
9
Oscar Piastri
Mclaren
1:33.658s
+2.314s
57
C3
10
Zhou Guanyu
Sauber
1:33.871s
+2.527s
62
C3
11
Logan Sargeant
Williams
1:33.882s
+2.538s
21
C3
12
George Russell
Mercedes
1:34.109s
+2.765s
121
C2
13
Yuki Tsunoda
RB
1:34.136s
+2.792s
64
C3
14
Valtteri Bottas
Sauber
1:34.431s
+3.087s
68
C3
15
Alexander Albon
Williams
1:34.587s
+3.243s
40
C3
16
Esteban Ocon
Alpine
1:34.677s
+3.333s
60
C2
17
Kevin Magnussen
Haas
1:35.692s
+4.348s
66
C3
18
Nico Hulkenberg
Haas
1:35.906s
+4.562s
82
C3
Watch: 2024 F1 Bahrain tests day 1 – Is Red Bull too fast, are the others behind? – Impressions from the track
2024-02-21 16:00:45
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