F1 BAHRAIN 2021 PRE-SEASON TESTING RESULTS (4PM)

F1 2021 pre-season testing – Fernando Alonso has yet to drive the Alpine A521 but he was speaking earlier during the lunch break, for the first time since he sustained a fractured jaw in a cycling accident in Switzerland in February.

McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo has topped the times on the opening morning of pre-season testing, while Ferrari and Mercedes both encountered problems.

McLaren have gotten their pre-season preparations off to a great start by topping the times in the opening session.

Lap times at 1pm on Day 1 of pre-season testing in Bahrain ahead of the 2021 F1 season.

POS	DRIVER	NAT.	TEAM	TIME	LAPS
1	Daniel Ricciardo	AUS	McLaren F1 Team	1m32.203s	45
2	Pierre Gasly	FRA	Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda	1m32.231s	74
3	Max Verstappen	NED	Red Bull Racing	1m32.245s	77
4	Esteban Ocon	FRA	Alpine F1 Team	1m32.959s	77
5	Charles Leclerc	MON	Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow	1m33.242s	59
6	Kimi Raikkonen	FIN	Alfa Romeo Racing Orlen	1m33.320s	63
7	Sebastian Vettel	GER	Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team	1m33.742s	51
8	Yuki Tsunoda	JPN	Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda	1m33.767	11
9	Roy Nissany	ISR	Williams Racing	1m34.789s	46
10	Nikita Mazepin	RUS	Uralkali Haas F1 Team	1m35.478s	19
11	Mick Schumacher	GER	Uralkali Haas F1 Team	1m36.127s	15
12	Lando Norris	GBR	McLaren F1 Team	1m35.691s	5
13	Valtteri Bottas	FIN	Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team	1m36.850s	6
14	Carlos Sainz	ESP	Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow	1m37.440s	4
15	Antonio Giovinazzi	ITA	Alfa Romeo Racing Orlen	1m37.798s	8
16	Lewis Hamilton	GBR	Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team	No time set	2
17	Lance Stroll	CAN	Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team	No time set	0

Alonso stressed that he missed “only a couple of marketing days and filming days, which I was happy about in a way! Then I recovered everything yesterday afternoon, I had a very intense day of marketing activities. I feel fine. Obviously one thing is the professional side and driving side, which I’m 100 percent. On the personal I will have to remove two titanium plates which I have in the upper jaw which will be removed at the end of the season.”

Carlos Sainz is set to appear for Ferrari shortly – for the first time in an official capacity. He has taken part in private test days in a 2018-spec car at Fiorano and has spent the winter assimilating himself within the Ferrari camp at Maranello. Speaking over the lunch break, Sainz said: “I feel a bit impatient, I’m not going to lie! It’s been a long time waiting for this moment. We did a filming day yesterday, but you know we used the prototype tyres, and we’ve done some testing with the older cars, but today… Today’s finally a day that I’ve been working for the most, you know, with the simulator, with the preparation with the engineers to try and arrive here as ready as possible. The conditions out there look challenging for a first day in the car. The wind is blowing a lot. There’s a lot of dust on track, so it’s not going to be an easy day by all means, but I need to tick my boxes, make sure I complete my run program and that’s it.”

Mercedes are currently slowest of everyone with Bottas and Hamilton P15 and P16, we can already hear the headline writers tapping away feverishly.

f1 bahrain 2021 pre-season testing results (4pm) f1 bahrain 2021 pre-season testing results (4pm)

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