F1 testing lunch report: Disaster for Mercedes, McLaren & AlphaTauri lead the way

World Champions Mercedes lost a significant period of run time during the morning session on the first day of testing in Bahrain ahead of the 2021 F1 season. Valtteri Bottas only managed to record 6 laps as a transmission issue kept him in the garage. McLaren and AlphaTauri both impress at the top of the timesheets. 

After one installation lap, Bottas returned to the circuit with around 40 minutes remaining. By this time Pierre Gasly had recorded 62 laps, with Esteban Ocon, Charles Leclerc, Kimi Raikkonen and Max Verstappen all around the half-century lap tally. 

Daniel Ricciardo started his career at McLaren on a strong positive. The Australian managed to collect a lot of data as well as sitting at the top of the timesheets for the majority of the session. 

Max Verstappen's Red Bull car looked more stable in the second-half of the morning session. The rear-wing was a little twitchy early on, causing a couple of spins for the Red Bull driver. However it was windy at the Bahrain International Circuit. 

The hard tyre was the most popular choice, with the top three times all being recorded on that compound. Raikkonen commonly used the medium, and Williams test driver Roy Nissany used the softs. 

Kimi Raikkonen is still very keen 

The 2007 World Champion is preparing to start his 19th season of Formula 1 and he is as keen to drive as ever before. Raikkonen was the first driver out on track for day one of testing in Bahrain. 

Charles Leclerc set the first fastest time of the session but was quickly replaced by his former teammate Sebastian Vettel. During the first 30 minutes, Aston Martin, Ferrari and AlphaTauri dominated the on-track time. Perhaps the three teams who have made the most changes during the winter. Those 30 minutes ran without any trouble though Esteban Ocon reported a snappy rear on the exit of the corners with some understeer. 

Disaster for Mercedes

Perhaps the most significant move of the morning came 45 minutes into the session. Mercedes were about to add to their tally of one lap. However, the World Champions noticed a transmission issue and needed to change the gearbox before returning to the track. 

Verstappen's mini spin perhaps showcased Red Bull's twitchy rear-wing as a problem which continues to exist, but he climbed to the top of the timesheet just after the hour mark. AlphaTauri, Alpine and Ferrari continued to keep their lap counters in constant motion. 

During his first session inside a McLaren cockpit, Daniel Ricciardo moved to P1 on the leaderboard. He posted a lap 0.028 faster than his former teammate Verstappen and led the way at the half-way point. 

Lots of laps

For his efforts on track, Pierre Gasly briefly climbed to P1 before the Australian regained the top mark. But it was the 25-year-old Frenchman who became the first driver to record 50 laps.  He managed to record the feat with just over an hour remaining of the morning session. The AlphaTauri car was running smoothly on the track. In the end, he managed to hit 72 laps. 

Ocon, Leclerc and Raikkonen edged towards 50 laps as Bottas made his return with 40 minutes left of the session. A significant period of time lost for Mercedes and Bottas himself. The Mercedes team will be hoping to gain more track time this afternoon when seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton takes the wheel.

The morning session was brought to a close after a red flag when Leclerc stopped out on track with a failure, potentially a fuel run-out. The cars returned to the track, but under VSC conditions.