The first session of Formula One’s pre-season testing on day two was brought to an end prematurely due to a loose drain cover on the Bahrain circuit.
Red flags were brought out with just under two hours left of testing when Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc drove over the drain cover and popped it loose, with Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton appearing to drive over some of the resulting debris.
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Ferrari took the floor off of Leclerc’s car to closely insepct any damage, but thankfully it didn’t appear to be anything major.
However, officials were unable to fix the drain cover in a reasonable time, prompting organisers to call off the morning session early as a longer afternoon testing period looms.
Earlier in the morning phase of testing, Sergio Perez’s Red Bull car caught fire after returning to the pits.
Perez completed just three laps before he headed back to the team garage for some further work on his car.
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However, it wasn’t long before his front right brake caught on fire after overheating.
Thankfully for Red Bull, the small blaze didn’t hamper Perez’s car as he returned to the circuit for more laps.
Testing came to a standstill with approximately an hour and 45 minutes left after a drain cover was dislodged on the track.
The red flags came out as all cars returned to the grid, with Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari being closely inspected by his team after he was seemingly one of the drivers who drove over the drain cover.
Daniel Ricciardo thinks his new-look RB team can be fighting at the front of the midfield this season after a strong opening day to testing in Bahrain overnight.
Ricciardo took the wheel of the VCARB-01 from teammate Yuki Tsunoda in the faster afternoon session and clocked the fourth-quickest time of the day, just 0.115 seconds slower than McLaren’s Lando Norris and only 0.015 seconds behind Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz.
Max Verstappen led the day more than 1.1 seconds up the road from the rest.
RB has forged closer technical ties with sister team Red Bull Racing, including by moving its UK-based aerodynamics department to Milton Keynes on RBR’s sprawling technology campus.
But with testing difficult to read and with only one day in the books, Ricciardo preached caution over RB’s strong start.
“We need to be a little bit cautious,” he said, per RacingNews365.
“The car felt, in a positive way, quite comfortable because it was similar to last year, but looking at the big car, the Red Bull, there’s some lap time to find obviously.
“I know it’s just day one, but there are still some cars that are faster than us, not only the Red Bull but a couple of others, so still some things to find.
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“But the general feel and balance is okay, so it’s now just about finding a bit more lap time.”
But Ricciardo was confident RB could move up the grid with time.
“As the season goes on, the target is the front of the midfield,” he said.
“I would say now, where we are, it’s probably more in the midfield. I’m not sure we’re yet at the front, but that is certainly our target.
“I know some people are quite excited about us coming into the season, but I want to play it a little bit cautious.
“We have a decent car, but we still have a lot of work to do, and the numbers we brought for the test, we believe there are still some things to find.
“The long term and big picture is to be fighting at the front of the midfield. I’m not sure that we will start the season there.”
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