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Writer's pictureDaisy Rockett

Bahrain pre-season testing - Day 1

Updated: Feb 22, 2024

The sun has gone down in Bahrain with day one of testing over. 


Even though it isn’t necessarily significant to setting the standard for drivers it can give us fans some excitement for the start of the season and see the new cars in full force. 


Eighteen of the drivers took the track at Bahrain International Circuit all running on C3 tyres, soft compounds, which they will be all running on throughout the Bahrain Grand Prix. 


George Russell and Max Verstappen were the only solo pilots and the rest switched throughout the day.


Mercedes' George Russell was the first to hit the track and followed throughout all day but unfortunately didn't make it in the top ten of testing results.


Onto the action, Super Max hit day one by leading the morning and afternoon by beating the rest as the fastest in pre-testing so far.


The solo driver completed the most laps with 143 laps.


With a winning time of 1.31 seconds the RB20 car is starting to show Adrian Newey’s magic already starting to become a success. 


But McLaren were not far behind finishing second, clear of 1.14 seconds. 


They both made a solid start with Lando Norris achieving his best time compared to testing a year ago in February.


Coming in third, Carlos Sainz came in proving his point despite the shuffle at the start of the year with Hamilton taking over next year, in the afternoon. 


Rebranded AlphaTauri now RB, Red Bull’s sister outfit, Daniel Riccardo followed behind Sainz very closely fourth. 


Alpine's front runner Pierre Gasly came fifth with their first time with a complete new car after being stripped from the bottom leaving just the wheel. 


Lance Stroll came sixth showcasing their new look after keeping their livery a secret until yesterday.


Ferrari's sweetheart, Charles Leclerc took seventh place within testing despite going wide a couple of times around the track.


Fernando Alonso came eighth regardless of hitting his views about pre season testing limits being unfair after not being given enough time to prepare for the new season. 


Underdog, Oscar Piastri found himself ninth with their smooth changes moving in the right direction. 


Ready and raring to go, Zhou Guanyu tests out Sauber's new car and comes out with positive results starting out as a new team. 


Unfortunately, some drivers discovered bumps in the road. 


Alex Albon, at Williams at turn two lost power 20 minutes in and Logan Sargeant spun out after suffering drive shaft issues.  


The practices don't stop and the two drivers can make up laps tomorrow.


At 7am tomorrow new faces of Mercedes’, Lewis Hamilton and Red Bull’s, Sergio Perez will be practising.





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