Bahrain Winter Testing – Day 1: Norris and McLaren Lead

If the morning was relatively calm, the afternoon of this first day of winter testing was more eventful. Indeed, the session was interrupted for an hour due to a power outage affecting all the infrastructure, with the lost time logically given back to the teams. Also noteworthy were a few raindrops that had no impact on the session.

During this, it was Lando Norris who emerged at the head of the pack. The McLaren driver clocked a 1.30’430, beating by several tenths the mark set by Carlos Sainz at the same time last year. The Briton was ahead of his compatriot George Russell, who had a strong practice session.

The reigning four-time world champion, Max Verstappen, recorded the third fastest time, two-tenths of a second behind last year’s runner-up. The first Ferrari is Charles Leclerc’s in 4th place, ahead of his former teammate Carlos Sainz.

On the French side, a great performance by Pierre Gasly who placed his Alpine in 6th position without any issues. For his first session as a full-time driver, Isack Hadjar finished in 11th place just behind his garage neighbor Yuki Tsunoda. Finally, Esteban Ocon concluded this first session in 19th place but had shifted his testing strategy. The Haas driver also finished with the most laps, 88 in total, which demonstrates the quality of his session.

Concern, however, on the side of Aston Martin. Indeed, the British team has covered fewer laps in total (87) than Esteban Ocon did on his own. Several technical problems have affected the green car, which hopes for a better second day this Thursday.

See you tomorrow morning at 08:00 to follow the second day of winter testing, still live on Motors Inside.