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F1 Pre-season Testing Live: AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly has the fastest time on Day 1 ending Ferrari’s stranglehold – Follow Day 1 Live Updates

F1 Pre-season Testing Live: AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly has the fastest time on Day 1 ending Ferrari’s stranglehold – Follow Day 1 Live Updates

Posted by Viren Lakhanpal
F1 Pre-season Testing Live: Pierre Gasly fastest overall on Day 1: With the 2nd session of the Bahrain testing on Day 1 concluded, Pierre Galsy had set the fastest time with 1m33.902s. It was Carlos Sainz of Ferrari who finished in the second position with Charles Leclerc in third. Day 1 of the Bahrain testing […]

F1 Pre-season Testing Live: Pierre Gasly fastest overall on Day 1: With the 2nd session of the Bahrain testing on Day 1 concluded, Pierre Galsy had set the fastest time with 1m33.902s. It was Carlos Sainz of Ferrari who finished in the second position with Charles Leclerc in third. Day 1 of the Bahrain testing saw 9 cars making it out of the pits, with Haas being the only team unable to take part in the morning session. But, Later Haas came out on the track in the afternoon session. Follow Formula 1 Live Updates on InsideSport.IN.

F1 Bahrain Pre-season Testing, Day 1

Ferrari was the standout team in the earlier stages, as they set a high 1:35’s at the beginning of the session. Alex Albon of Williams, Sergio Perez of Red Bull, and Sebastian Vettel of Aston Martin each came and interchanged their names in the second spot. But, ultimately it was Ferrari’s Sainz and Leclerc who finished second and third respectively.

F1 Pre-season Testing Live: AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly has the fastest time on Day 1 ending Ferrari’s stranglehold – Follow Day 1 Live Updates

Also Read: F1 Pre-season Testing Live: Charles Leclerc sets the fastest time on Day 1 with the drivers list out – Follow Day 1 Live Updates

One of the major obstacles which every team faced was the issue regarding the ground effect which led to cars bouncing on the straight, popularly known as ‘Porpoising’. Mercedes was the worst sufferers on the opening hours as Lewis Hamilton kept on registering slow laps. Mercedes also surprised everyone when they came out with zero sidepods after it was reported that without the sidepods the Silver Arrows would run considerably faster.

Turn 10 of the track was a thorn for almost every racer. Some of the noticeable drivers who locked up and went off track were Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel. The first pre-season was held in Barcelona from 23rd to 25th February. It had lots of talking points in it but the major one was Porpoising. Teams suffered porpoising on the straights when they were at high speeds.

F1 Bahrain Pre-season Testing, Day 1 Team Lap Count

  1. Red Bull – 138 laps
  2. Mercedes – 122
  3. Alfa Romeo – 120
  4. Ferrari – 116
  5. Williams – 104
  6. AlphaTauri – 103
  7. Aston Martin – 89
  8. Alpine – 66
  9. McLaren – 50
  10. Haas – 47

End of Day 1 Timings

  1. Pierre Gasly, AlphaTauri, 1m33.902s, C4 – 103 laps
  2. Carlos Sainz, Ferrari – 1m34.359s, C3 – 52
  3. Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, 1m34.531s, C3 – 64
  4. Lance Stroll, Aston Martin, 1m34.736s, C4 – 50
  5. Alex Albon, Williams, 1m35.070s, C4 – 104
  6. Lando Norris, McLaren, 1m35.356s, C2 – 50
  7. Valtteri Bottas, Alfa Romeo, 1m35.495s, C3 – 66
  8. Sebastian Vettel, Aston Martin, 1m35.706s, C3 – 39
  9. George Russell, Mercedes, 1m35.941s, C3 – 60
  10. Sergio Perez, Red Bull, 1m35.977s, C2 – 138
  11. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 1m36.365s, C3 – 62
  12. Fernando Alonso, Alpine, 1m36.745s, C3 – 24
  13. Esteban Ocon, Alpine, 1m36.768s, C2 – 42
  14. Guanyu Zhou, Alfa Romeo, 1m37.164s, C3 – 54
  15. Pietro Fittipaldi, Haas, 1m38.527s, C2 prototype – 47
  • Day 1 has officially ended under a red flag. Pierre Gasly takes the number 1 spot with Sainz and Leclerc of Ferrari taking second and third.

  • The Mexican is out of the car and just five minutes are remaining. It is highly unlikely this session will restart. That RB18 needs to be loaded onto a truck and returned to the pits as the clock is ticking down.
  • The session has stopped as the red flag has come into power. Because of Sergio Perez who managed to beach his car in the gravel at Turn 8.
  • Carlos Sainz moves up to second place with a lap time of 1m34.359s. He is currently running the C3 tyres.
  • Pierre Gasly has finally completed 100 laps for the day. Perez and Albon are the other two drivers who had completed this feat before Gasly.
  • Lando Norris gets his best time of the day. Setting a lap time of 1m35.356s on the C2 tyres. He is currently placed sixth on the table.
  • Pierre Gasly on the C5s goes even quicker. Setting a lap time of 1m33.902s as he goes even faster at the top. He was the quickest in the second sector again and was not interrupted this time.
  • Fernando Alonso and Sergio Perez, both are out on the track. Just half n hour more to go for the Day 1 proceeding to end.
  • George Russell ‘enjoys’ another lock-up at Turn 10. Meanwhile, Gasly’s fastest middle sector goes to waste. The AlphaTauri driver gets a little held up by Fittipaldi in the last sector.
  • Pierre Gasly is nearing a century of laps as he has completed 94 laps till now. Gasly will join Perez and Albon who have already completed more than 100 laps. Meanwhile, Alex Albon hasn’t reappeared since his steering issue became apparent.
  • Lando Norris is currently having a few troubles with keeping his MCL36 on the road. He is finding a lot of understeer in the McLaren. He has returned to the pits for now.

  • Lance Stroll leapfrogs Alex Albon with a lap time of 1m34.736s. He is currently running on the C4 tyres and is fourth in the table.
  • Pierre Gasly fires in a lap time of 1m34.010s to go top of the table. He is currently running on the C4 tyres. The Ferrari stranglehold for the day is now over.

  • George Russell has moved to P8 with a lap time of 1m35.941s. Meanwhile, Carlos Sainz goes up to the second position with a lap time of 1m34.713s. This means Ferrari is 1-2 in the table as things stand.
  • Pierre Gasly is out on the track and has managed a lap time of 1m 34.800s. He just missed Leclerc’s time by a whisker and is now placed second. He is running on the C3 tyres and has completed 85 laps.
  • Alex Albon is still in the garage after that steering issue that saw him return to the pits. It is sounding like it’s not the hydraulics and the team are still investigating. It seems to be around the rear tyre.
  • Lance Stroll moves up to P3 on the C4 tyres, setting a lap time of 1m35.219s. He moves ahead of Valtteri Bottas. 
  • Valtteri Bottas and Lance Stroll are the only drivers who are out on the track at the moment.
  • Kevin Magnussen was busy getting a new seat finished. He raced in the same seat for all his previous years at Haas. But that one doesn’t fit in the new cars so seat fitting it is.
Insidesport
F1 Pre-season Testing Live: Kevin Magnussen was busy getting a new seat finished
  • Carlos Sainz then leapfrogs Lance Stroll out of sixth place, setting a lap time of 1m35.600s on the C2 tyres. He has completed the 33 laps of the day. That’s 97 laps for Ferrari in total today.
  • Lance Stroll moves up to P6, posting a lap time of 1m35.859s. Both Aston Martin drivers are now in the top six as it stands. Meanwhile, Alex Albon reported a steering issue, but that seems to be more problematic on his onboard. Williams will have to check the hydraulics out.

 

  • The sun is beginning to set now, so track temperatures will naturally come down. So we’ll see some lap times drop towards the end of the day. That is going to be amazing and super fun.
  • Mario Isola, Pirelli head of F1 and Car Racing said, “We didn’t see any degradation this morning. In Barcelona they were more focused on the new cars than the tyres, we expect them to focus more on the tyres tomorrow and Saturday.”
Insidesport
F1 Pre-season Testing Live: Mario Isola, Pirelli head of F1 and Car Racing
  • Pierre  Gasly is his AT03 moves in the fourth position with a lap time of 1m35.515s. He is currently running on the C3 tyres.
  • Alex Albon now joins Sergio Perez in the 100-club for today. George Russell goes up to P7 with a lap time of 1m36.030s on the C3 tyres.
  • George Russell winds up running wide after another lock up. That is the end of that lap for Russell. The floodlights are on as the breeze is picking up.
  • Sergio Perez comes out on track on a fresh set of C2 tyres in the Red Bull RB18. He, alongside Gasly, Albon, Russell and Fittipaldi are on track currently.

  • Pietro Fittipaldi does improve on that lap time of 1m39.325s and is currently placed at 14th position.
  • Carlos Sainz has had enough and is pushed back into the Ferrari garage. He lies seventh as it stands.

  • There are only three cars out on track at the moment: Alex Albon, Valtteri Bottas and Lance Stroll.
  • Lando Norris isn’t having a great afternoon. He has only 35 laps to his name, having added just 14 since the lunch break. McLaren were struggling with a reported brake issue earlier, and it doesn’t look to be resolved just yet.
  • Pierre Gasly is the latest to have a lock-up at Turn 10. Lance Stroll replicate the same thing again sending smoke up into the air. Russell follows up with a smaller lock-up of his own. Turn 10 is wreaking havoc on the drivers.
  • Lance Stroll has a big lock-up into Turn 1. He is currently driving with the C2 tyres.
  • Valtteri Bottas in his Alfa Romeo goes third with a lap time of 1m35.495s. He is driving with the C3 tyres.
  • Carlos Sainz jumps up to the sixth position with a lap time of 1m36.076s on the C2 tyres.
  • Lando Norris has improved on his lap time. He clocked a time of 1m36.360s which puts him in the seventh position.
  • Lando Norris is out on track again on the C2 tyre. He’s completed just 32 laps today so far.
  • Pierre Gasly is on another lap on the C3 tyres. But locked up into Turn 8 and ran a bit wide.
  • Alex Albon has done a lot of work on that C4 tyre today. He’s come into the pits having clocked 81 laps so far.
  • McLaren appears to be getting ready to let Lando Norris loose. Meanwhile, George Russell is continuing with his C3 tyre run and goes to the eighth position with a lap time of 1m36.553s.
  • Pierre Gasly is out on the track on the C3 tyre. He jumps up to the fourth position with a lap time of 1m35.819s.
  • Alex Albon locks up allowing Sergio Perez to close even more. In fact, the Mexican has to dab the brakes himself to avoid running into the back of the Alexs’ Williams.
  • Looks like Sergio Perez is putting some laps on the C1 tyre just now. He’s just finished off his 113th lap.
  • Valtteri Bottas uses the slipstream to get past Alex Albon into Turn 1.
Insidesport
F1 Pre-season Testing Live: Valtteri Bottas uses the slipstream to get past Alex Albon
  • The sun has started to dip lower in the sky. The official sunset time is just an hour away. It will help the drivers as the track will cool down.
  • Fernando Alonso is back in his garage and there’s some work going on to his car. Pietro Fittipaldi is out on the C2 tyre in the re-liveried Haas.

  • George Russell does improve to a lap time of 1m40.921s, which moves him up to 14th position.
  • Kevin Magnussen on what he’s expecting performance-wise of the VF-22, “I don’t think we’re going for the championship this year but I think there’s a good atmosphere. You can feel something good is coming. But let’s see. Our expectations are under control. We know better than to think we’re going to go out and smash it. But you know, it’s good there is a lot of smiles around the team and everyone’s looking forward to it and they’re not scared of going on track with something that’s going to be embarrassing. I feel like the team is going to a good place.”
  • Valtteri Bottas crosses the line with a lap time of 1m36.279s. It moves him up to the fifth position and he is running on C3 tyres.
  • Sergio Perez becomes the first driver to complete a century of laps. He has now completed 104 laps and is sitting in fourth position.
  • Carlos Sainz is continuing with the C2 proto tyre. He pulls into the pitlane for a dummy pitstop.
  • It doesn’t look like Lando Norris will be back out any time soon. His car is back up on the stands.
  • Fernando Alonso has come out on the track. He even improves to a lap time of 1m39.437s, which keeps him in the 13th position.
  • Lance Stroll moves up to 11th position with a lap time of 1m37.861s on C2 tyres.

  • Lance Stroll has joined the action once again after his big lockup on Turn 10.
  • Carlos Sainz has clocked a lap time of 1m36.971s. A replay of Sainz shows off the dreaded ‘porpoising’ effect of the new cars as he bounced down the straight into Turn 1.
  • Kevin Magnussen said, “I feel the same. You know, walking into the paddock yesterday, I felt like I never left. It’s funny when I think about the year that I’ve had, how much has happened. I had a kid and I moved back to Denmark and a lot of the things happened, it feels like 10 years passed if I look out of the paddock. But when I walk in, it feels like I never left.”
  • Sergio Perez is nearing a century of laps in today’s running. He has now completed 96 laps and is sitting fourth in the table. Currently, it’s only Carlos Sainz and Sergio Perez on the track.

  • Lance Stroll of Aston Martin has a big lockup on his C2 tyre at Turn 10. Turn 10 seems to be having a hard time with the drivers.
  • Russell has complained and said on the radio, “Keep an eye on the clutch pedal. It’s awfully close to my knees.” 
  • Valtteri Bottas in the Alfa Romeo is also out on the track. We see a replay of his replacement Russell making a bit of a mess of the last corner and running out wide.
  • All the cameras are fixed on a bouncing Russell. Whereas, the likes of Sainz in the Ferrari, AlphaTauri’s Gasly, Stroll in the Aston Martin and Williams driver Albon are all out on the track.
  • George Russell is out finally. No signs of aero rakes for now, so these look like installation laps for the Briton at the moment. One thing is for sure is that the car is still riding low and sparks are kicking out all the way down the main straight. He has even complained of “bottoming – but not severe bumps”. It looks like a rough ride out there for the Brit.

  • Yuki Tsunoda of AlphaTauri feels “He’s coming into this season feeling in a much happier place than he was last year. He admitted that his fitness had held him back last season and that he’s taken his training to a different level over the winter. He wasn’t expecting to be any calmer on the radio this year though”
  • Sainz runs wide, bumping over the high kerbs for good measure. The run-off areas are very sandy and dusty here. So any off-track moments do affect tyre grip and hamper the rest of the lap as the tyres clean back up.
  • Another quick lap from Carlos Sainz, setting a lap time of 1m39.692s. Beating his previous time by 0.8s to go up to P11.
  • George Russell is finally now in the car, which is progress. No tyres on just yet though, but it won’t be long.
  • Carlos Sainz sets a lap time of 1m40.488s on the soft tyre. It puts him in P12 for the day.

  • Carlos Sainz of Ferrari is finally getting out on track for his first run of the day, sporting some matching red-marked tyres. And George Russell might not be too far behind, he is also suited and booted.
  • The track is now clear as its green flag now.
  • Nicholas Latifi on Mercedes sidepods, “I think a lot of teams will have a hard time trying to replicate that if it did prove to be the right way to go. We are probably on the ‘smaller’ end of the sidepod design, but there’s no telling which way is the right way to go until qualifying next weekend.”
  • The red flag has come into power. The remaining piece of the aero rake can be removed from the track.
  • Something has fallen off Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin. It looks like the aero rakes have become dislodged and are rubbing against the tyres of his car.
Insidesport
F1 Pre-season Testing Live: Sergio Perez of Red Bull looks happy after a great morning session
  • A lock-up for Sergio Perez at Turn 10 sends him wide. This is not for the first time either as Bottas also locks up there moments later.
  • The reserve driver for Haas, Pietro Fittipaldi sets a lap time of 1m42.639s. The track is now looking a bit busier, with Albon, Perez, Alonso, Fittipaldi, Bottas and Stroll all putting in laps.
  • Alex Albon has also joined the on-track action. Valtteri Bottas is heading out for a second run.

  • Fernando Alonso sets a lap time of 1m41.506s. He is driving on the C2 hard compound.
  • Magnussen confirms he did have to have a new seat made. His old one wasn’t fitting in the new car. “I met him at the end of 2020, he came to Abu Dhabi to watch. He’s a super cool guy,” he then said about his new teammate. “He obviously grew up with racing in his blood, I know what that means and it’s going to be exciting to get to know him a bit better.”
  • Fernando Alonso is heading out now too in his Alpine A522. He will be taking over the reins from Esteban Ocon.
  • Kevin Magnussen said, “I signed the contract yesterday and now I’m back in Formula 1. The team are more optimistic than the last couple of years I was with the team, with more smiles, more jokes, a good feeling. I know nothing about this car, it’s the first time I’ve seen it today.”
  • Sergio Perez has now headed out on track for Red Bull. He completed 70 laps in the morning session.
  • Valtteri Bottas sets his first lap of the day with a lap time of 1m44.190s on the C2 tyre.
  • Valtteri Bottas is now also out on track in his Alfa Romeo. While good news from Ferrari is that the floor is back on. So Carlos Sainz should be coming out on the track shortly.
  • Lots of work going on down in the Ferrari garage. The screens are up in front of the garage while they remove the floor from the F1-75.

  • Pietro Fittipaldi heads straight back into the garage after just one lap. While Lando Norris sets a time of 1m40.711s on the C2 hard tyre.
  • Lando Norris of McLaren is the second one to be out on the track.
  • Haas are the first team to be on the track for the afternoon session. Freight delay meant they were not able to take part in the morning session. Pietro Fittipaldi is the driver who will be driving for Haas.

  • The afternoon session is Day 1 is underway now.

Timings in the Morning session Day 1

  1. Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, 1m34.531s, C3 – 64 laps
  2. Alex Albon, Williams, 1m35.070s, C4 – 53
  3. Sebastian Vettel, Aston Martin, 1m35.706s, C3 – 39
  4. Sergio Perez, Red Bull, 1m36.247s, C2 – 70
  5. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 1m36.365s, C3 – 62
  6. Esteban Ocon, Alpine, 1m36.768s, C2 – 42
  7. Guanyu Zhou, Alfa Romeo, 1m38.164s, C3 – 54
  8. Lando Norris, McLaren, 1m37.580s, C2 – 21
  9. Pierre Gasly, AlphaTauri, 1m37.888s, C2 – 44
  • The checkered flag waves to bring down the curtain on this morning’s session. It ends with Charles Leclerc of Ferrari still at the top with a lap time of 1m 34.531s.
  • The Virtual Safety Car period is now over and we’re back to green running for the final seven or so minutes of the morning session.
  • There is a virtual safety car on the track now.
  • Perez is sporting flow-vis paint pretty liberally dabbed over most of his car at the moment. He lies fourth on the timing screens as it stands. Meanwhile, all eyes are on Haas down in the pit lane.
  • Pierre Gasly is running on the C2 hard tyre. He has had a few lock-ups recently, the latest of them coming at Turn 10. Meanwhile, Leclerc has just been into the pits and switched to the C2 Prototype tyre with no markings on the side.
  • Alex Albon improves again on the C4 rubber to a lap time of 1m35.070s with the fastest first sector time of anybody. But Leclerc remains on top as the only man so far to venture into the 1m34s. Vettel has also improved to a 1m35.706s on the mediums but the German still remains in the third position.
  •  It doesn’t look like Lando Norris will be back out anytime soon. The team has confirmed they are investigating an “issue.”
  • Mercedes garage show engineers applying flow-vis to the front wing. They are spraying it liberally both above and below that wing. They are right now after the airflow data at the moment. Meanwhile, Hamilton comes out, that flow-vis paint almost invisible at high speed.
  • Charles Leclerc and Pierre Gasly are the only two drivers out on track at the moment. The Ferrari driver becomes the second driver today to hit the 50-lap marker. Perez has covered the most number of laps today with 58.
  • Pierre Gasly is running on the C2 hard tyre in the AlphaTauri. He has also improved his time, but it doesn’t move him up the leaderboard. That lap was a 1m37.888s from the Frenchman as he is ninth in the table.

F1 Pre-season Testing Live: AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly has the fastest time on Day 1 ending Ferrari’s stranglehold – Follow Day 1 Live Updates

  • Alex Albon has now leapfrogged Vettel and is second now. Vettel had set a lap time of 1m 36.166s but Albon bettered it with a lap time of 1m 35.217s.
  • There’s plenty of green flow-vis paint on the floor area of Guanyu Zhou’s Alfa Romeo. It’s still clearly identifiable as an Alfa though. Whereas, Williams launched an unwitting Duckhams Van Diemen tribute livery with its generous application of yellow flow-vis in Barcelona.
  • Sebastian Vettel is currently running in a set of medium tyres on his Aston Martin. He is giving everybody another chance to see his new anti-war helmet complete with the Ukrainian flag.
Insidesport
F1 Pre-season Testing Live: Sebastian Vettel rocking his new ‘No War’ helmet
  • Mercedes’ W13 is now looking a touch difficult to handle through the corners. It could be the breeze, or it could be a heavy fuel load. Or it could be due to their design concept. So far so good for the Red Bull as it is cornering much better at the moment as Perez continues to lay down the laps.
  • Hamilton is pushing and has again locked up into the tricky Turn 10 left-hander. But that last lap was only in the 1m40s bracket. It was four seconds slower than Perez, who is lapping close to his personal best in the 1m36s.
  • More than 50 minutes remain for the morning session to end and there are only three cars on the track. Sergio Perez of Red Bull along with Charles Leclerc of Ferrari and Alex Albon of Williams. But wait, Hamilton has also come out of the pits on a set of medium tyres.
  • Sergio Perez is back in the pits as it stands. The Mexican driver has topped the lap count with 44 laps to his name. Charles Leclerc is behind him with 39 laps.

  • Christian Horner was asked about Mercedes sidepods. Were they the gamechanger this year and he simply replied, “I was slightly surprised to be reading comments that I was supposed to have been making. To be honest with you I haven’t paid a great deal of attention to it, but it is obviously a fairly different concept, but that is for the aero guys and the designers to get into.”
Insidesport
F1 Pre-season Testing Live: Christian Horner has his say on the new Mercedes sidepods.
  • Hamilton is back in the pits after he had a massive lock-up on the last lap. George Russell will be driving in the afternoon session and will get a taste of W13.
  • Following Hamilton, for a full lap, it is clear to see the porpoising issue still remains. It is not as dramatic as what was on show in Barcelona. But, still very bouncy at high speeds.
  • Sergio Perez of Red Bull is now second and has set a lap time of 1m36.247s
  • Here comes Pierre Gasly, DRS wide open as he flies down the main straight. He is up to 31 laps now himself, well past half race distance. He hasn’t set the timing screens alight but still has the whole day in the cockpit to boot.
Insidesport
F1 Pre-season Testing Live: Pierre Gasly has completed 31 laps in his Alphatauri, AT03
  • The timing screen is being lit up by green and purple mini sectors by Leclerc and Perez. It means personal best and overall best times but won’t improve on their respective lap times.
  • Sergio Perez is on a longer run, sporting a set of hard compound tyres. He has clocked 35 laps, with Leclerc and Zhou on 33.
  • Jolyon Palmer says, “Great news for Haas to be taking Magnussen back. Caught many people by surprise, but makes absolute sense. The team know him well, he’s very popular there, experienced and very quick. He’d be a great benchmark for Schumacher, which he hasn’t had in Formula 1 yet. He’s also a good teammate to work with. So hopefully can help Mick and the team move forward from where they were last year.”

  • Sebastien Vettel of Aston Martin has set a lap time of 1m36.637s. He is now in the fifth position leapfrogging Zhou.

  • Esteban Ocon is the latest to lock up at Turn 1. Then his Alpine car bottoms out through Turn 3.
  • Zhou has come into the pits and stopped in the pitlane but just outside the Mercedes garage. His mechanics come jogging to his rescue.
  • Zhou has a messy lap but still improves on his personal best with a 1m37.164s to go fifth. The Alfa Romeo driver locked up at Turn 10 before the rear steps out exiting Turn 11. He has leapfrogged Ocon who is now sixth with a time of 1m37.198s.
  • Hamilton has completed the most number of laps (34). Behind him is Zhou with 33 laps. Leclerc is third with 31 laps.
  • Norris is back out and is still rocking a set of soft compound tyres. But he is another to lock up. That will be a bumpy ride back to the pits for the McLaren man.
  • Leclerc has a big lock-up at Turn 1 to take a chunk off the top of his front tyres. He is all OK to continue before pitting at the end of the lap.
  • A closeup with Mercedes’s new sidepods at the Bahrain pre-season testing Day 1.
Insidesport
F1 Pre-season Testing Live: Mercedes’s new sidepods
  • Charles Leclerc has set the fastest time with 1m 34.531s.
  • Sebastian Vettel has just run wide again. This time after locking up his front left tyre. He is running the hard compound.
  • Lewis Hamilton is now second fastest with a lap time of 1m 36.365s. He has leapfrogged Sergio Perez who was P2 before.
  • Sergio Perez is now the most-lapped driver so far with 28 laps. He is ahead of Zhou on 27. Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton has 25 laps and Alex Albon has 21 laps to his name.
  • Norris is up to P4 now driving with the C4 compound. He’s still yet to reach a double-figure lap count. He has set a lap time of 1m 37.580s.
  • Sergio Perez (Checo) is second fastest with a lap time of 1m 36.581s.
Insidesport
F1 Pre-season Testing Live: Sergio Perez is second fastest with a lap time of 1m 36.581s.
  • Hamilton and Vettel have a little bit of a battle. It results in Hamilton snatching a braking point and going a little deep into Turn 8. He remains ahead, however.

  • Alfa Romeo, who had limited running in Barcelona, Zhou’s up to 22 laps. He’s now on a 1m38.675s, still on the C3s.
Insidesport
F1 Pre-season Testing Live: Zhou has set a time of 1m38.675s in his Alfa Romeo
  • Haas might join in today’s afternoon session.

  • Teams are experiencing Porpoising effect on the straights and high vibrations overall.
  • Esteban Ocon has moved up to second place in his Alpine with a lap time of 1m 37.852s. Alpine also have a small design headache this season with two drivers of such different heights – a problem shared by Mercedes as well.

 

  • Lewis Hamilton is back on the track with hard compound tyres on.
  • Meanwhile, Albon is out for Williams. But he has been complaining about an uncomfortably hot seat.
  • Talking about the Mercedes sidepods, It gives the team a smaller cross-sectional area, cutting drag and helping to give the floor a boost. But they lose the interaction between the corner of the sidepod working with the tyre wake.
  • Lando Norris is out on the track and sporting aero rakes. Gathering data is the name of the game this morning. The teams start to assess their aero tweaks and see what has gained them some tenths – or possibly, the opposite.
  • Kevin Magnussen gets a re-induction tour around the Haas garage. He’s been away in the US for a year. He was racing in IMSA for Chip Ganassi Racing – with an IndyCar outing at Road America with Arrow McLaren SP.
Insidesport
F1 Pre-season Testing Live: Kevin Magnussen will drive for Haas in the 2022 season
  • Red Bull’s Sergio Perez is back in the pits and wheeled back into the garage. He has covered 16 laps till now and could go past a century of laps today.

 

  • Still no signs of McLaren on the track. They had to change their driver list at the last moment as Daniel Ricciardo is ill.
Insidesport
F1 Pre-season Testing Live: Daniel Ricciardo is ill so Lando Norris will replace him in the morning session
  • Guanyu Zhou is ou ton the track for his Alfa Romeo. This is the first track action for Alfa in their 2022 livery, after sporting a camouflage look in Barcelona. Zhou is currently placed fourth.
  • Charles Leclerc has again set the fastest time with 1m 35.953s. He is currently using a soft set of tyres.
  • Haas reveals their livery after parting ways with Nikita Mazepin and their sponsor Uralkali too.

  • The Mercedes garage is gathered around by the photographers to have a look at those sidepods. “It’s all about the sidepods, everyone is talking about how narrow it is – but the floor edge has changed as well,” says Sam Collins, F1 Technical Analyst.
  • Charles Leclerc has set the fastest time with 1m 37.017s.
  • Sergio Perez has set the fastest time with 1m 37.950s in RB18 for Red Bull.
  • Mercedes have new sidepods that feature minimalist sidepods, and some aggressive-looking fins that run alongside the cockpit to comply with side-impact regulations.
  • Sebastian Vettel has set the fastest time with 1m 38.803s.
  • Sebastian Vettel has a big lock-up into Turn 8. A frequent zone for catching the left-front tyre. It’s also super-windy out there, with Hamilton having an earlier wide moment.
  • The morning session of the official pre-season testing on Day1 is underway in Bahrain.

There’s a video on Twitter of Charles Leclerc where you can see how his car is bouncing on the straight. Porpoising was last seen in Formula 1 when it had ground effect cars in the 1970s and 80s’.

India Timings

Wednesday Day 1, 10th March – 12:30 to 21:30 IST

Thursday Day 2, 11th March – 12:30 to 21:30 IST

Friday Day 3, 12th March – 12:30 to 21:30 IST

F1 Bahrain pre-season test day 1 line-ups

Mercedes: Hamilton (AM)/Russell (PM)
Red Bull: Perez
Ferrari: Leclerc (AM)/Sainz (PM)
McLaren: Norris
Alpine: Ocon (AM)/Alonso (PM)
AlphaTauri: Gasly
Aston Martin: Vettel (AM)/Stroll (PM)
Williams: Albon
Alfa Romeo: Zhou (AM)/Bottas (PM)
Haas: Fittipaldi

On Day 1 of the Barcelona pre-season testing, it was McLaren’s driver Lando Norris who topped the timesheet. He had set the time of 1m 19.568s and covered 103 laps, which were the fourth most covered.

On Day 2 of the Barcelona pre-season testing, it was Ferrari’s driver Charles Leclerc who topped the timesheet. He had set the time of 1m 19.689s and had driven his new F1-75 car for almost 79 laps.

On Day 3 of the Barcelona pre-season testing, it was none other than Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes who topped the timesheet. He had set the time of 1m 19.138s and covered 94 laps in his new W13 car.

Insidesport
F1 Pre-season Testing Live: Lewis Hamilton topped the timesheet on Day 3 of the first pre-season in Barcelona

F1 Pre-season Testing Live: AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly has the fastest time on Day 1 ending Ferrari’s stranglehold – Follow Day 1 Live Updates

Also Read: F1 Bahrain pre-season Live: Formula 1 Bahrain pre-season testing and Live Streaming, Date, Time, Venue, track, all you need to know

Haas will see a new driver in their ranks as Nikita Mazepin’s contract has been terminated. The decision was taken after the Russian ongoing invasion of Ukraine. Haas even stripped off Uralkali as their sponsors. Pietro Fittipaldi, who is the reserve driver for Haas will be seen driving in the pre-season testing.

Guanyu Zhou is also in his rookie year for the Alfa Romeo team. He is the first full-time Chinese driver to drive in Formula 1. He will be partnering with Valtteri Bottas, who lost his seat at Mercedes.

The season will kick start on 20th March in Bahrain itself. So, now it’s do or die time for the teams present on the grid. Because, if they face any kind of problems now, then they will have no time to get it right.

F1 Pre-season Testing Live: AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly has the fastest time on Day 1 ending Ferrari’s stranglehold – Follow Day 1 Live Updates

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