Problems for Mercedes and Haas? Teams lose precious time in Bahrain

Mercedes and Haas are two teams hoping for a (much) better 2024 than last season. However, in Bahrain, on the first day of testing, things were not all plain sailing for either team. George Russell lost precious time with his Mercedes team midway through the first test session, during which the W15 was checked behind screens.

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 subjected to a thorough inspection. 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 journey.

Haas also had hefty problems. Kevin Magnussen spent 40 minutes in the garage while his team worked on a problem the fuel system. In the end, the smallest team on the F1 grid were able to continue. After more than three hours in Bahrain, Haas are by far the slowest. The difference to the number nine, in this case Russell, was already around 0.8.

For any team, technical problems come very badly now that testing is limited to three days. Of that, a driver can only take to the track for three parts of the day.