Verstappen tops morning session as F1 testing begins

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen set the fastest time on the opening session of Formula 1’s 2023 pre-season test at the Bahrain International Circuit on Thursday. 

The reigning world champion finished the session in the RB19 with the fastest time of 1:32.959, ahead of Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz who set a time of 1:33.253.

George Russell led the pack out of the pits as the first four-hour test session of the day got underway at 10 am local time – the Mercedes driver was the first to complete a timed lap. 

Aston Martin had a shaky start to the session as Felipe Drugovich was forced to park the AMR23 after just four corners, ultimately bringing out the only red flag of the morning. Team Principal Mike Krack later revealed the stoppage was due to a sensor and electronics issue. 

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Reserve driver Drugovich, standing in for an injured Lance Stroll, was back out on track after losing out on an hour of running. The Brazilian driver was the last of the ten cars to set a lap time.

Meanwhile, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen led the way early on but was quickly replaced at the top of the timing screen by Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz with a time of 1:33:253s – while the majority of the teams made early ventures onto the track with rakes attached. 

Alex Albon’s Williams, aglow with orange flow-vis paint, also spent time at the top half of the timing tower. Albon sat comfortably behind Sainz and Verstappen for much of the session. 

A small dimple-like dent appeared on the front wing of the Ferrari at high speed in the first half of the session. Ferrari confirmed that the feature was a defect from a support giving way under the surface and it was remedied for the remainder of the session. 

The issue didn’t seem to trouble Ferrari’s on-track running though. Sainz tallied up a total of 72 laps by the end of the four hours.

Red Bull made a late statement when Verstappen set a new benchmark time of 1:32.959. He became the first driver to break into the 1:32s as the session approached thirty minutes remaining. 

Verstappen along with Albon and Sainz all broke past the 70 laps mark. The Williams driver completed the most with 74 laps. 

Zhou Guanyu consistently improved his lap times throughout the session, finishing the morning with the fourth-fastest lap time over 67 laps.

Aston Martin was able to recover their lost laps somewhat, Drugovich completed 40 laps in total. 

There was a test of the Virtual Safety Car system at the tail end of the session which brought a number of the teams into the pits before the end of the session.