F1 | Bahrain Test, Day 1: Max sets the pace ahead of Norris and Sainz

The first day of testing in Bahrain ended with the best time of the man who dominated last season, namely Max Verstappen, who also finished the afternoon session on top.

The Dutchman from Red Bull in fact achieved the best time of the day by lapping in 1:31.344 on the C3 compound, the “intermediate” one in the range of slick tires supplied by Pirelli, ahead of Lando Norris by a second and a tenth. The driver from the Milton Keynes team set the time with about half an hour to go, before dedicating himself again to a short stint with little fuel on board, again on the same compound.

Verstappen's afternoon session was punctuated by rather short but consistent stints, all under ten laps, while there were rivals who preferred to focus on the long distance. For the Dutchman, who remained on the track all day, even 141 laps completed: tomorrow he will share the car with Sergio Perez, before leaving the wheel of the RB20 to the Mexican for the last day.

Behind the Red Bull driver Lando Norris closes with McLaren, with a significant deficit, even if, clearly, it is still only the first day of testing.

It is interesting to point out how the Woking team changed the program from morning to afternoon, modifying the approach. If in the first four hours Oscar Piastri concentrated in particular on aerodynamic measurements, completing multiple runs of just two laps as per McLaren tradition, in the afternoon Lando Norris focused more on long stints. The Briton has in fact completed over four runs lasting more than ten laps (15 laps the longest) with the three hardest compounds in the range. The focus in the cooler hours, or when Verstappen recorded the time, went precisely in the direction of maximizing track time with longer runs.

Third time for Carlos Sainz, one tenth behind Norris. The afternoon program of the Rossa was divided into two phases: in the first part fairly short runs with various set-up tests, while as the sun began to set the Cavallino team began to run longer stints, from about ten rounds and always with the C3 compound, the most flexible one in the range. For Ferrari no reliability problems and 68 laps completed in the afternoon, in addition to the 64 recorded by Leclerc in the morning.

Carlos Sainz, Ferrari SF-24

Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images

Fourth time for Daniel Ricciardo, among the most active on the flying lap: in the last part of the session, in fact, the Australian completed several runs with exit and return laps, probably to evaluate some set-up changes and to understand the behavior and tire preparation before a fast lap. Behind him was Pierre Gasly, with an Alpine which, as expected, concentrated above all on the harder compounds in the range, also completing a long run on the C1.

Sixth time for Stroll, over a second and a half from the top, although it is clear that Aston Martin's focus was exclusively on reliability tests and long distances. Since the morning, in fact, the Silverstone team has been the one that has lapped with the most consistency, so much so that it was the most active in the first 4 hours: even in the afternoon the Canadian, who inherited the wheel from Fernando Alonso, lapped with a certain consistency, completing 52 rounds. Attention turned to C3, especially towards the end, when Stroll put together an 18-pass run.

Seventh time for Charles Leclerc with the time achieved in the morning, ahead of Fernando Alonso, Oscar Piastri and Guanyu Zhou, who debuted on the C44 in the afternoon. Williams' day was instead troubled by some reliability problems: after a breakdown that forced Albon to park his car in the morning, Logan Sargeant also had to end the session early. The engineers are investigating the cause of the problem, which occurred in the stint following the one in which the American spun in turn ten.

George Russell, Mercedes F1 W15

Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images

Twelfth time for a Mercedes that was difficult to read: the first part of the afternoon was largely dedicated to studying the set-ups, so much so that we spent a lot of time in the pits. Only two hours from the end did George Russell begin to clock up lap after lap, completing three long runs, interspersed with stops in the garage, on C3, C2 (one of only two sets available to the Brackley team) and C1.

Of note are the two Haas that close the ranking: Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg, despite a small problem with the fuel pump in the morning, were among the most active on the track. As the team had already announced, the focus of the test would have been linked above all to the intention of understanding the presence of any degradation problems and, precisely from this, we understand the numerous long runs completed by the two standard bearers of the American team.