The final day of Formula 1 pre-season testing in Bahrain has been delayed with a red flag to attend to a loose drain cover, marking the second instance this week.
This morning’s running was in its infant stages when a drain cover became dislodged on a kerb on the back straight on the approach to the uphill Turn 11 corner.
It is believed that Sergio Perez was the driver who prompted the cover to come up, but Red Bull has since confirmed there has been no damage to the floor of the RB20.
The area being investigated under red flag conditions by FIA Race Director Niels Wittich is the same as the one that caused a lengthy stoppage to yesterday’s schedule.
Charles Leclerc ran over the cover and the resulting debris next time around forced Ferrari to change his floor, while Lewis Hamilton escaped damage in his Mercedes W15.
That morning was stopped for 40 minutes before the session was abandoned with over an hour still to run. The teams were compensated with an extra hour in the afternoon.
At the time of the latest stoppage, Carlos Sainz, the quickest driver in testing, led the times for Ferrari with a best effort of 1:31.247s, 0.861s clear of McLaren’s Lando Norris.
Once the session is resumed it will run without a one-hour lunch break until 19:00 local time, which will bring a curtain down on testing ahead of the opening race next weekend.
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