Mercedes announces driver roster for Bahrain

Formula 1 teams are gearing up for the first day of testing in Bahrain scheduled for Thursday. Mercedes announced on its own Twitter channel what driver schedule it will be running on the opening day.

Lewis Hamilton starts the test days with Mercedes on Thursday morning. He will not only try to prepare himself as optimally as possible for the first Grand Prix weekend, which is scheduled one week later, but will also do his best to collect as much data as possible for his team again.

In the afternoon we won't see Hamilton back on track, because that's when Mercedes gives George Russell the opportunity to take the W13 out on the track. The former Williams driver has one and a half weeks left to get his team off to a good start on Sunday afternoon, March 20.

Several teams have already announced their schedule for the coming days. Red Bull Racing even communicated the full three days. Sergio Perez will be in action on Thursday and Saturday morning, Max Verstappen on Friday and Saturday afternoon. Other teams have also clarified their schedule.