Formula 1
F1 2022 Bahrain day 1 – Mercedes surprise, Gasly leads

Lap times Day 1 of pre-season testing in Bahrain ahead of the 2022 Formula 1 season.
AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly clocked the fastest time on the opening day of Formula 1’s second pre-season test in Bahrain.
POS DRIVER NAT. TEAM TIME LAPS 1 Gasly FRA AlphaTauri 1m35.515s 103 2 Sainz ESP Ferrari 1m35.800s 52 3 Leclerc MON Ferrari 1m34.531s 64 4 Stroll CAN Aston Martin 1m35.219s 50 5 Albon THA Williams 1m35.070s 104 6 Norris GBR McLaren 1m35.946s 50 7 Bottas FIN Alfa Romeo 1m35.495s 66 8 Vettel GER Aston Martin 1m35.706s 39 9 Russell GBR Mercedes 1m36.030s 60 10 Perez MEX Bull Racing 1m35.977s 138 11 Hamilton GBR Mercedes 1m36.365s 62 12 Alonso ESP Alpine 1m39.437s 24 13 Ocon FRA Alpine 1m36.768s 42 14 Zhou CHN Alfa Romeo 1m37.164s 54 15 Fittipaldi BRA Haas 1m39.269s 47
Gasly set a time of 1:33.902s on the C5 tyres during the twilight evening session to finish four-tenths clear of Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz.
Charles Leclerc’s time from the morning session was quick enough to ensure he wound up third overall.
Both Ferrari drivers clocked their best laps on the C3 tyre.
The afternoon session was disrupted by two stoppages.
The first was caused when an aero rake detached from Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin and scattered debris on the track.
The second came in the closing stages, causing the day’s running to come to an early end, when Sergio Perez had a low-key spin through Turn 8.
On a cooldown lap, amid a trial Virtual Safety Car period, Perez lost the rear of the RB18 exiting Turn 8 and crept into the gravel trap, beaching the car.
Perez nonetheless amassed the most mileage on Thursday’s running as he racked up 138 laps.
Haas made up for lost time after its delayed start to the day, with test driver Pietro Fittipaldi completing 47 laps in the VF-22.
That left Haas only three laps shy of McLaren’s total for the day, with Lando Norris having a low-key outing, racking up just 50 laps.
Alpine also had a relatively subdued afternoon session as Fernando Alonso took over from Esteban Ocon but added only 24 laps to the team’s tally.
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Mercedes surprised the Formula 1 paddock when Lewis Hamilton rolled out of the garage with brand new sidepods on the W13 as 2022 Formula 1 testing in Bahrain got underway.
The sidepods on the Mercedes car caused a storm in the paddock, with looks completely different to the sidepods used in Barcelona last time out. It seems likely we haven’t seen Mercedes at full power yet.
The Mercedes car contained the most visible differences. Christian Horner allegedly said that parts were illegal on the Mercedes, but Red Bull Racing denied these comments.
Ross Brawn admitted it was an innovation Formula 1 didn’t see coming.
Porpoising is still causing headaches for the teams. Midway through the morning session, Hamilton opted to run a push fast lap with a low ride height, but the car violently bounced up and down the home straight into turn one.
All teams seem to be struggling, whilst the Williams car was spotted with a skirt coming off the floor to try and solve the problem.

F1 2022 Bahrain day 1 – Mercedes surprise, Gasly leads F1 2022 Bahrain day 1 – Mercedes surprise, Gasly leads
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