Pink Bull kicked off their 2024 marketing campaign in ominously spectacular type, with Max Verstappen topping the primary of three days of pre-season testing at Bahrain with a finest time of 1:31.344s after finishing 143 laps.
That was over a second away from Lando Norris who was second quickest within the McLaren. Norris accomplished 71 laps within the afternoon after Oscar Piastri was within the cockpit earlier than lunch, whereas Verstappen ran the entire day.
Carlos Sainz, Daniel Ricciardo, Pierre Gasly and Lance Stroll stuffed out the remainder of the highest six within the hotter afternoon circumstances, with Williams the one workforce to endure important technical gremlins.
Bahrain Pre-Season Check – Day 1
PosDriverTeamTimeTyreLaps1Max VerstappenRed Bull1:31.344s C3 1432Lando NorrisMcLaren+1.140s C3 733Carlos SainzFerrari+1.240s C3 694Daniel RicciardoRB+1.255s C3 525Pierre GaslyAlpine+1.461s C3 616Lance StrollAston Martin+1.663s C3 547Charles LeclercFerrari+1.903s C3 648Fernando AlonsoAston Martin+2.041s C3 779Oscar PiastriMcLaren+2.314s C3 5710Zhou GuanyuSauber+2.527s C3 6311Logan SargeantWilliams+2.538s C3 2112George RussellMercedes+2.765s C3 12213Yuki TsunodaRB+2.792s C3 6414Valtteri BottasSauber+3.087s C3 6815Alexander AlbonWilliams+3.243s C4 4016Esteban OconAlpine+3.333s C1 6017Kevin MagnussenHaas+4.348s C3 6618Nico HülkenbergHaas+4.562s C3 82
Verstappen had topped the opening morning session with a time of 1:32.548s and remained within the automotive for the afternoon as effectively, with George Russell nonetheless within the automotive at Mercedes
First out after lunch was Carlos Sainz who had t6aken over from Charles Leclerc within the Ferrari, placing in an off-the-cuff opening run of 1:38.865s. Russell, Pierre Gasly, Nico Hulkenberg, Daniel Ricciardo and Lance Stroll had been additionally quickly in motion throughout he first hour post-lunch.
Lando Norris held again, however shortly earlier than the two-hour mark the mcLaren driver managed to displace Verstappen from the highest of the timing screens with a lap clocking in at 1:32.484s.
Nevertheless it wasn’t lengthy earlier than Verstappen nonchalantly went again on prime with a time of 1:31.662s, and he handed the 100 mark because the solar set over Bahrain Worldwide Circuit.
Regardless of his sluggish begin to the day, Russell additionally handed the 100 lap mark within the remaining hour of testing by which period the floodlights had been in full impact. Nevertheless his time was 2.7s off the Pink Bull and solely twelfth total.
Alex Albon had been the reason for the one stoppage towards the tip of the morning session after finishing 40 laps. The workforce subsequently revealed had been a gasoline pump challenge: “The automotive goes into security mode fairly rapidly,” mentioned Albon.
“All mounted now,” he confirmed, after turning the automotive over to Logan Sargeant for the afternoon. “We’re attempting to know the automotive. We have to perceive simply how completely different the automotive is.”
“We had the problem out on monitor, it wasn’t picked up with digital testing however I am glad it was picked up not subsequent week,” added Williams boss James Vowles. the gasoline is bedded in fairly deep within the automotive.
“There was loads of gasoline inside it,” he added. “Loads of gasoline left inside it, but it surely could not use it!” Sargeant was the final man out after lunch as soon as repairs had been accomplished, and shortly took a visit by way of the journey at flip 10.
Sargeant was quickly again out on monitor to proceed along with his session regardless of some considerations among the many Williams engineers in regards to the rear of the automotive, and a driveshaft challenge was finally recognized limiting Sargeant to simply 21 laps.
Though there have been no stoppages, there was a notable second within the remaining 20 minutes when a chunk of particles flew off Stroll’s Aston Martin on the finish of the straight; Ricciardo averted it within the RB, however Hulkenberg’s Haas hit it.
The engineers will test for injury in a single day however there appeared little concern within the Haas storage. Between them, Hulkenberg and Magnussen accomplished probably the most laps of any workforce, with 148 pipping Pink Bull’s one man effort from Verstappen.
Tomorrow will get underway at 8am GMT for one more eight hours of testing. Sergio Perez will take over from Verstappen at Pink Bull, whereas Lewis Hamilton will get his first style of the brand new Mercedes W15.
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