Test Report | Aggressive Red Bull upgrades and lower lap count for Mercedes

Max Verstappen and Red Bull Racing topped the leaderboard of the opening test session ahead of the 2024 Formula 1 season. In Bahrain, Red Bull rolled out of the garage with their aggressive upgrades despite having the dominant car in the 2023 season. It was a relatively uneventful test session in terms of mechanical problems. 

Problems for Mercedes, Haas and Williams?

Russell went out first earlier in the day but did not complete more than 19 laps in the opening two hours. After the Briton entered the pits, the car was inspected thoroughly. According to Mercedes, there was little to worry about, and it was "normal test adjustments". After a good half-hour, Russell was able to continue his test.

Mercedes engineers were later spotted working in the pedal area of the car. Perhaps looking at the steering column. The team have changed the cockpit position for the 2024 season after Lewis Hamilton complained about it last year.

Kevin Magnussen spent 40 minutes in the garage while his team worked on a problem with the fuel system. In the end, the smallest team on the F1 grid could continue. Haas are by far the slowest after more than three hours in Bahrain.

McLaren also had a quiet start, but the team told GPblog they were "just working through our run plan". Piastri ended up recording around 50 laps. There were no red flag stoppages during the four hours of testing, though he did look likely when Alex Albon stopped out on the track. He was running down the home straight when the engine switched off. Albon tried to restart the car but eventually had to get pushed away.

Busy morning for Alonso

42-year-old Fernando Alonso recorded the most laps. He completed over 75 laps, and the Aston Martin driver finished third fastest. Verstappen, Leclerc, Tsunoda, Bottas, Ocon, Piastri and Magnussen also recorded more than 50 laps.

Verstappen's purple lap time of 1:32.948 couldn't be beaten. In fact, only Leclerc and Alonso got within one second. Piastri reached P4, and there was a place in the top five for Tsunoda. George Russell managed to finish sixth but was 1.6 seconds behind Verstappen.

Verstappen's RB20 was seen with three cooling inlets. Two are on the sideboard, and one is on either side of the driver's head behind the halo. They have opted for Mercedes' 2022 route, but the German team couldn't make it work partly due to the cooling. Testing will resume after a one-hour break for lunch. You can follow all of the updates here.