Norris Bahrain Testing – McLaren’s Lando Norris set the pace on day one of Formula One’s pre-season test at the Bahrain International Circuit.
The Briton posted the afternoon best in a session that was extended by an extra hour following a red flag.
After all ten teams ran one of their drivers in the morning session – with Mercedes AMG Petronas’ Andrea Kimi Antonelli setting the benchmark along with the posting the joint-highest tour count of 78 – it was the turn of the other ten drivers to get behind the wheel in the afternoon.
Racing Bulls rookie Isack Hadjar was the first to hit the track – and also became the initial spinner of proceedings, though there was no trouble for the Frenchman. Others also joined him on circuit, including four-time World Champion Max Verstappen.
As the action increased – with the likes of Norris emerging slightly later – George Russell ousted Mercedes team-mate Antonelli at the head of the order before Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc went quicker, topping the time-sheets on a 1:30.878.
Shortly afterwards a power failure at the track brought out the red flags, leading to a break in action. The sun had set in Sakhir when the session continued with 50 minutes remaining, whilst light spots of rain also started to fall in the cool conditions.
With a hive of activity on the circuit, it was confirmed that the session would be extended by another hour to make up for the time lost due to the halt. With running now taking place under the lights, the drivers were able to run in conditions representative of those when the Formula 1 Bahrain Grand Prix returns in April.
As more tours hit the time-board and times were coming down – with teams all running different programmes – it was Norris who posted the best time of the session, as the McLaren driver set a 1:30.430 to be 0.157 seconds quicker than Russell.
“It’s nice to be back in the car!” Norris explained after his first day of running in the MCL39. “A big shout-out to the team for getting everything ready and prepared for today. It was a good, fun day on track, and we progressed through a lot of the tests that we wanted to do. I’m looking forward to pushing the car a bit more over the next couple of days.” Norris concluded. Credit to McLaren for the quote.
Verstappen was next in third, in-front of Leclerc who took fourth and Atlassian Williams Racing’s debutant Carlos Sainz who rounded out the top five.
“Overall, it was a positive first day for the team, especially given some of the track stoppages we had with the blackout,” Sainz said. “We managed to complete the run plan, and we got in a lot of laps, which is always the main target of the first day. First impressions are positive, but obviously between now and the next couple of days, we’ll try to improve the balance of the car in both short and long runs.” Sainz concluded, credit to Williams for the quote.
BWT Alpine F1 Team’s Pierre Gasly followed in sixth and completing 72 laps in total as morning runners Antonelli, Red Bull’s Liam Lawson, Williams’ Alexander Albon and Racing Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda completed the top ten.
Hadjar placed outside the top ten in 11th place overall, clocking 74 tours in the other Racing Bull entry and in-front of Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto who was 12th in the order.
Ferrari’s debutant Sir Lewis Hamilton followed in 13th overall and done 70 laps in the SF-25 ahead of fellow morning runners of Alpine’s Jack Doohan and Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso in 14th and 15th respectively with both running 68 and 46 tours in total.
“Testing is always exciting,” explained Hamilton after his morning run in the SF-25. “It’s the first time you get to see what everyone has been developing and can start to get a feel for your own car and the year ahead. Being here with Scuderia Ferrari HP and in the SF-25 for the first time is an incredible feeling. Our focus right now is on experimenting with different things, gathering as much data as possible and getting familiar with the car, and we’ve already learned a lot. It’s too early to really understand performance, but everything feels good and as a team we’re working on the best way to optimise each run. There’s more to do over the next few days to get through our programme and understand the car to the best of our ability, but right now I’m looking forward to getting out there again tomorrow.” Hamilton concluded, credit to Ferrari for the quote.
The other Aston Martin AMR25 entry of Lance Stroll placed behind his team-mate in 16th and ran 42 laps of the Bahrain track.
McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg were 17th and 18th with their morning lap-time efforts, as the MoneyGram Haas F1 Team duo Esteban Ocon and Oliver Bearman brought up the rear, with the Kannapolis-Banbury outfit running different programmes for both drivers.
The teams and drivers will begin their second day of Formula 1 testing at the Bahrain International Circuit shortly.
You can catch up on all of day one’s action here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pX-GvMz7xzk
Teams reveal liveries in thrilling F1 75 Live Launch. #F175 #F1 #Formula1