BAHRAIN F1 PRE-SEASON TESTING DAY 1 – VERSTAPPEN LEADS

Bahrain F1 pre-season testing – For 2021, teams only have three days of testing ahead of the new season which kicks off at the Bahrain International Circuit on March 26-28.

Here are the latest standings and times from the Bahrain International Circuit, updated hourly, on the first day of pre-season testing for the 2021 season.

POS	DRIVER	NAT.	TEAM	TIME	LAPS
1	Max Verstappen	NED	Red Bull Racing	1m31.412s	110
2	Esteban Ocon	FRA	Alpine F1 Team	1m31.626s	113
3	Lando Norris	GBR	McLaren F1 Team	1m31.809s	33
4	Antonio Giovinazzi	ITA	Alfa Romeo Racing Orlen	1m31.945s	46
5	Daniel Ricciardo	AUS	McLaren F1 Team	1m32.203s	45
6	Pierre Gasly	FRA	Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda	1m32.231s	74
7	Yuki Tsunoda	JPN	Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda	1m32.727s	37
8	Carlos Sainz	ESP	Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow	1m32.869s	39
9	Lewis Hamilton	GBR	Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team	1m32.912s	27
10	Charles Leclerc	MON	Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow	1m33.242s	59
11	Kimi Raikkonen	FIN	Alfa Romeo Racing Orlen	1m33.320	63
12	Sebastian Vettel	GER	Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team	1m33.742s	51
13	Roy Nissany	ISR	Williams Racing	1m34.789s	73
14	Nikita Mazepin	RUS	Uralkali Haas F1 Team	1m34.798s	46
15	Mick Schumacher	GER	Uralkali Haas F1 Team	1m36.127s	15
16	Valtteri Bottas	FIN	Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team	1m36.850s	6
17	Lance Stroll	CAN	Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team	1m37.983s	28

Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen led proceedings on the opening day of Formula 1 pre-season testing in Bahrain as Mercedes had an abnormally off-colour display.

Formula 1 is this year holding just a sole three-day test in preparation for the record-breaking 23-event season, which will commence at the same venue in two weeks’ time.

Drivers had to grapple gusty and dusty conditions for much of the day, with track conditions at their worst shortly after lunch, with plumes of sand trailing from the rear of the cars.

Verstappen used the Medium tyres to clock a time of 1:30.674s – over three seconds down on last November’s pole position effort at the grand prix – to finish two-tenths clear of McLaren’s Lando Norris.

Red Bull was also the most productive team during the course of the opening day, amassing 139 laps, over two grand prix distances worth of mileage.

Alpine’s Esteban Ocon was third, with Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll fourth, Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz fifth and Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi sixth.

Morning pacesetter Daniel Ricciardo slipped to seventh spot by the close of play, ahead of AlphaTauri pairing Pierre Gasly and Yuki Tsunoda.

World Champions Mercedes endured an atypically disrupted and quiet start to pre-season testing, with Lewis Hamilton only just scraping into the top 10.

The W12 completed only an installation lap before a gearshift problem consigned Valtteri Bottas to the garage for the bulk of the session, limiting him to just five more laps.

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff affirmed that the “issue came out of nowhere” and the squad was still trying to understand the cause.

Hamilton took over from Bottas for the afternoon session but cut a subdued figure, with several scruffy moments, not troubling the top of the timesheets, and amassing only 42 laps.

It meant Mercedes finished with just 48 laps, its best effort 2.2s off Verstappen, with the least mileage of any team.

On a largely trouble-free opening day of running in Bahrain a few other teams’ programmes were interrupted by glitches.

Mick Schumacher’s session for Haas was truncated to just 15 laps due to a gearbox change.

Charles Leclerc halted the Ferrari SF21 just 10 minutes prior to the lunch break, causing the day’s sole red flag, while Stroll’s arrival after lunch was delayed owing to a small electrical issue.

Their respective team-mates, Nikita Mazepin and Sainz, both had spins through Turn 11 in the afternoon session but were able to continue their programmes.

Williams, meanwhile, handed the day’s running to test driver Roy Nissany.

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BAHRAIN F1 PRE-SEASON TESTING DAY 1 – VERSTAPPEN LEADS BAHRAIN F1 PRE-SEASON TESTING DAY 1 – VERSTAPPEN LEADS

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