Formula 1 is back. Testing in Sakhir, Bahrain, began this Wednesday, and Max Verstappen dominated the morning session.
The three-time world champion debuted the new Red Bull RB20 and showed that the car will be a tough nut to crack: he completed his best of 66 laps in 1m32.548s – better than the reference time from the first day of testing last year on the same circuit, despite not being a perfect lap. The Dutchman also completed a race distance with the hardest Pirelli compounds.
In second place in the morning was Charles Leclerc (Ferrari), who was 0.699s slower, while Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin/Mercedes) achieved the third fastest time, 0.837s behind. The Spanish driver completed the most laps, with 77. The top five was rounded out by Oscar Piastri (McLaren/Mercedes) and Yuki Tsunoda (Visa Cash App RB F1 Team), both over a second behind the leader.
Also running in the morning were George Russell (Mercedes), Valtteri Bottas (Kick Sauber/Ferrari), Alexander Albon (Williams/Mercedes), Esteban Ocon (Alpine), and Kevin Magnussen (Haas/Ferrari) – who finished, in that order, between sixth and seventh positions.
In the afternoon, only two drivers will not give way to their teammates: Verstappen and Russell, who will complete the full day. There were no red flags in the morning, but Albon had a problem that forced him to pull over near turn three – a situation that was resolved with only a yellow flag.
Morning times:
