Max Verstappen was top of the timesheets after the morning session on the first day of Formula 1 pre-season testing in Bahrain.
The reigning World Champion got his first proper running of the Red Bull RB20 on Wednesday morning and is set to be behind the wheel again in this afternoon’s session.
Verstappen’s time of 1:32.548s was set with plenty of time left in the session, but nobody could muster a time better.
F1 2024 Pre-Season Testing – Day 1 Morning Results
Still, testing is testing and getting laps on the board is an important metric, as teams gather data on their new machines.
The Dutchman completed 66 tours of the Sakhir international circuit, the third most of anyone in the session.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was second in the order courtesy of a 1:33.247s laptime, he clocked 64 laps of running.
Third in the order and setting the most laps with 77 was Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso – the veteran Spaniard set a best time of 1:33.385s.
McLaren’s Oscar Piastri was fourth after setting 1:33.658s laptime in the MCL38 during his 57 laps of running.
Yuki Tsunoda continued the new dawn of RB by posting the fifth fastest time, a 1:34.136s effort during a 64-lap stint.
George Russell completed the second-fewest amount of laps (48) in his Mercedes W15 en route to setting the sixth fastest time, a 1:34.230s.
Next up was Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas, who set a 1:34.431s laptime whilst setting the second-most laps, 68 in total.
Alex Albon brought his Williams FW46 to a halt in Sector 1 with 21 minutes remaining of the four-hour session, the first on-track technical issue encountered by any of the 10 runners.
As the Thai-Anglo driver waited in the run-off, the Yellow Flag was raised and running continued.
Albon’s session ended early, however, after he’d completed 40 laps and set a fastest time of 1:34.587s, good enough for eighth in the order.
Esteban Ocon posted the ninth-fastest time in his Alpine, lapping the circuit with a best effort of 1:34.677s after completing 60 laps.
Rounding out the order in tenth was Haas’ Kevin Magnussen, with a best time of 1:35.692s.
The Danish driver completed 65 laps in the new VF-24 machine.
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