Norris blasts to P1 in Bahrain as Hamilton, Ferrari hit chaos

The McLaren driver, who started the day much like he did yesterday, set the fastest lap at 1:33.453, just over a tenth quicker than Verstappen.

The session began relatively quietly, with several drivers running late to hit the track. Verstappen, however, was early to lay down the benchmark on his medium tyres, ahead of Oliver Bearman and Audi’s Gabriel Bortoleto.

The timing order remained largely unchanged until Lewis Hamilton stormed to second place in his Ferrari, shaking up the pecking order behind the four-time world champion.

Norris would soon reclaim the top spot, trading fastest laps with Verstappen throughout the session. Meanwhile, the Cadillac team delayed their track appearance once again, with Valtteri Bottas only hitting the circuit almost two hours into running.

Track activity remained light until Hamilton encountered a problem with his Ferrari. The seven-time world champion, having completed just five laps, was forced back to the garage due to a technical issue, as confirmed by the Italian team.

For the remainder of the session, the pecking order remained largely stable, with teams and drivers shifting focus toward long-run simulations ahead of the new season.

Alex Albon followed Russell in fourth place, while Bortoleto and Oliver Bearman were fifth and sixth, respectively. Franco Colapinto was the seventh fastest ahead of Liam Lawson. Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton, and the Cadillac of Bottas round out the running order for the morning session.