Verstappen records 157 laps and finishes fastest, Alonso close in P2

The first day of pre-season testing in Bahrain is over. Max Verstappen concluded the session as the fastest. The Dutchman exchanged the lead position with Carlos Sainz throughout the day, but it was the two-time World Champion who took control of the preceding and recorded over 150 laps. The biggest problems were at Aston Martin and McLaren. 

Problems for Aston Martin and McLaren

Before any momentum was gathered, the first car stopped. After eight minutes, Felipe Drugovich was told to pull over with what would later turn out to be an electrical problem. Not much later, the Brazilian, filling in for Lance Stroll, was able to get back on track, but precious time was lost. McLaren also got off to a somewhat late start. Oscar Piastri did not set a time on the clock in the first few hours, but would eventually get to a good number of laps. McLaren made no mention of a problem.

Whilst things got better Aston Martin, the same couldn't be said for McLaren. Norris recorded a quick five laps at the start of the afternoon, but then got stuck in the garage for well over one hour. The Woking-based team were seen fixing some cracks on the wheelbrows next to the brakes. With two hours remaining, Norris returned and eventually crawled his way up the leaderboard. Despite these problems, there was only one red flag during the day. 

Faster laps 

When the floodlights came on and conditions replicated those for qualifying and the race next weekend, drivers started to make proper performance runs rather than shakedown and data correlation. Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton added some fuel for a long race run. In contrast, Aston Martin raised some eyebrows as Fernando Alonso came within a tenth of Verstappen's fastest time. 

Lando Norris also pushed hard but he didn't quite have the pace to get under a second behind the fastest time. Late in the session he moved to P5. Run plans, fuel loads and engine modes were unknown but Alpine never troubled the top of the timesheet. Most teams recorded a remarkable amount of laps suggesting that reliability is going to be high for this season. 

As was the case this morning, the last 15 minutes of the session saw testing of yellow flags and virtual safety car systems. On the whole, it was a dream day for Red Bull Racing and a disappointing day for McLaren. Aston Martin recovered from a difficult start. For the other teams, it is difficult to conclude whether they are happy with their days work.