Reigning world champion Max Verstappen leads the field halfway through the first day of preseason testing for the 2024 Formula 1 campaign in Bahrain.
The Dutchman put himself into top spot with a best time of 1 minute 32.548 seconds at the lunch break, having completed a healthy 66 laps during the four-hour morning session.
Times are largely meaningless at this early stage of preseason testing, with teams focused on reliability and set-up instead, but Verstappen’s omnipresence at the top of the time sheet — allied to his impressively redesigned RB20 — was vaguely foreboding all the same.
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He was the only driver to dip beneath the best lap time set at this stage of the 2023 preseason, lowering the benchmark by 0.411 seconds, though times remained well before the qualifying laps set at the Sakhir track last season.
Leclerc followed the serene Verstappen in the order, his Ferrari 0.699 seconds adrift.
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Fernando Alonso put Aston Martin third and with a session-high 77 laps, his green car looking as at home in Bahrain as it did in its breakout opening race to 2023.
Testing got off to a largely uneventful start for 2024, with only Williams suffering a major technical drama.
Alex Albon was completing his 40th lap when his Mercedes power unit suddenly cut out, leaving him to limp down the front straight.
The Thai driver was able to park his car on the inside of turn 1, where marshals were able to wheel it off the circuit without the need for a red flag.
Haas was the only other team that appeared to encounter problematic reliability gremlins, with a suspected fuel system problem curtailing running in the middle of the session. Kevin Magnussen eventually completed a strong 66 laps.
Mercedes completed the fewest lap of any team bar the halted Williams, with George Russell accumulating only 48 laps with several lengthy visits to his garage, including one long stop at which his mechanics appeared to focus on his pedal box and front suspension.
The team said it was focusing more on data collection and set-up than reliability long runs, allaying concerns over lost time.
Esteban Ocon was the only driver to have a major off-track moment, with a series of snaps sending him through the stones at turn 4. The Frenchman continued after both, through a suspected power unit problem forced him back to the pits after his opening runs.
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TIMES — DAY 1, LUNCH
1. Red Bull Racing (Max Verstappen): 1m 32.548s (63 laps, C3 tyre)
2. Ferrari (Charles Leclerc): 1m 33.247s (64 laps, C3 tyre)
3. Aston Martin (Fernando Alonso): 1m 33.385s (77 laps, C3 tyre)
4. McLaren (Oscar Piastri): 1m 33.658s (57 laps, C3 tyre)
5. RB (Yuki Tsunoda): 1m 34.136s (64 laps, C3 tyre)
6. Mercedes (George Russell): 1m 34.230s (48 laps, C3 tyre)
7. Sauber (Valtteri Bottas): 1m 34.431s (68 laps, C3 tyre)
8. Williams (Alex Albon): 1m 34.587s (38 laps, C4 tyre)
9. Alpine (Esteban Ocon): 1m 34.677 (60 laps, C1 tyre)
10. Haas (Kevin Magnussen): 1m 35.692s (66 laps, C4 tyre)
Tyre guide: C1 is the hardest tyre, progressing to the softest C5
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