F1 Bahrain Test, Day 1: Norris leads Russell, Verstappen after power cut

Lando Norris headlined the opening day of Formula 1 pre-season testing in Bahrain, following an hour-long delay for a circuit-wide power cut.

The session’s runtime was extended by an hour following the hiatus created by the lack of power two hours into the afternoon session, which knocked out the floodlights and all electrics in the main building – including garages and media centre.

Norris hit the circuit after the resumption of the session to log a 1m30.430s, which remained untouched despite efforts from Max Verstappen and George Russell within the final stage of the day.

Williams’ Alex Albon had led the way after the first hour, having logged a 1m32.862s among the early exploratory laps – in which installation runs and aero rake testing were prevalent.

Immediately after the first hour had elapsed, Lewis Hamilton then moved to the top of the pile in his first public outing for Ferrari before Red Bull’s Liam Lawson, then Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso, enjoyed turns at the top.

Lawson produced the morning’s most wayward moment with a spin at Turn 2 as his Red Bull struggled to navigate the kerbs, but the Kiwi got his car back on the road.

Liam Lawson, Red Bull Racing

Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images

Mercedes rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli led the way into the lunch break with a 1m31.428s time, as all 10 drivers who took part in the morning traded places with their team-mates for the afternoon.

This allowed Russell to move past Antonelli’s morning benchmark an hour after the session reopened for business, finding more than 0.3s over his younger team-mate to demonstrate a clear step in the afternoon’s times.

Russell’s time was surpassed by Charles Leclerc’s 1m30.878s, prior to the hour-long red flag.

On the resumption of the session, Norris put together a lap four tenths faster on the C3 tyre to sweep to the top of the order. The Briton clocked in 52 laps, 0.157s clear of Russell and his count of 70 laps overall.

Verstappen, Leclerc, and Carlos Sainz completed the top five, all within 0.6s – the Spaniard was another 0.4s clear of sixth-placed Pierre Gasly. Antonelli, Lawson, Albon and Yuki Tsunoda completed the top 10.

Esteban Ocon logged the most laps of anyone after taking on the afternoon session for Haas, posting 88 laps en route to 19th in the overall times; the American squad appeared to prioritise longer runs as it sat at the bottom of the timesheets with Oliver Bearman 20th.

F1 Bahrain pre-season test – Day 1 results

Photos from the Bahrain Pre-Season Testing