Bahrain second 2014 test Test day one
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This delay is a good chance to bring to your attention a story from Formula 1 support series GP2.
The champion Russian Time team, which took over the iSport operation at the start of 2013, had a bit of a question mark placed over its future earlier this week.
Its operating team withdrew its involvement - a decision that followed its founder dying suddenly earlier this month.
In a twist, iSport management is back involved and will run the team with 2012 GP3 champion Mitch Evans and German Formula 3 runner-up Artem Markelov its drivers:
Evans to Russian Time for GP2
Apologies, Magnussen was out there too. But he and Sutil have returned to the pits, so it looks like the Toro Rosso has stopped just after setting its first time of the day.
Red flag
We've got a red flag here. Kvyat and the Sauber of Sutil were the only cars on track.
Kvyat heads out in the Toro Rosso, and this time he has stayed out beyond completing an installation lap. His first time is a 1m44.346s.
Nope, that lap was on course to be even slower, and Hamilton returns to the pits.
Hamilton opens with a 1m38.7s which, considering only three cars have dipped under 1m40s so far today, is a decent start to this run.
He follows it up with a 2m00s lap, so let's see if that was a 'cool-off' before going for another quick one.
He follows it up with a 2m00s lap, so let's see if that was a 'cool-off' before going for another quick one.
As Hulkenberg pits in the Force India, Hamilton and Mercedes take the opportunity to have the track to themselves.
Hulkenberg follows up his 2013-conquering effort with a 1m37.1s, making that the third lap on this run that is quicker than anyone else has managed so far today.
Vettel teases with a personal best first sector, but he aborts the lap and returns to the pits with his total for the day finally into double figures.
Stopwatch
Another improvement at the top for Hulkenberg, and his 1m36.953s makes him the first driver to beat the 2013 Bahrain GP fastest lap in a 2014 car.
Elsewhere, Vettel is back on track after around 30 minutes spent in the pits, and Magnussen is still going on his long run, with his times seemingly stabilising around 1m43s now.
Stopwatch
Hulkenberg goes fastest for Force India with a 1m37.155s. That's 0.7s clear of Hamilton in the Mercedes, and only 0.2s slower than last year's race fastest lap set by Vettel's Red Bull.
Mercedes has confirmed that Hamilton's long-ish run earlier was 18 laps. Meanwhile on track Frijns improves in the Caterham to set a 1m42.900s.
For the first time on a run that is now into double figures, Magnussen drops out of the 1m42s with a 1m43.899s.
Magnussen's last six laps have all been in the 1m42s, ranging from a 42.1s to a 42.8s.
Hulkenberg back in the pits after a fairly short run. Magnussen still out there lapping consistently in the mid-1m42s now.
With an installation lap under his belt, Kvyat takes the Toro Rosso back to the pits.
Frijns pits again, leaving Hulkenberg and Magnussen lapping the track. And now Toro Rosso's Daniel Kvyat is venturing out of the pits for his first lap of the day.
We've got Magnussen, Hulkenberg and Frijns out on-track now. Hulkenberg is lapping in the 1m40s, Magnussen in the 1m41s, Frijns is... just getting warmed up (1m50s).
Hamilton pits at the end of a run that was firmly into the teens in terms of laps completed.
Sebastian Vettel
That lap does at least make the Red Bull the fastest Renault-powered car here today, moving two seconds clear of the times set by Frijns in the Caterham and Grosjean in the Lotus. The German is now back in the pits.
Vettel sets two personal best sector times on his out-lap, and follows that up with a full set of PBs next time around. That gives him a 1m42.3s and moves him above Frijns into P6.
While Hamilton continues to notch up the laps (now 66 for the day), Vettel (with four to his name) heads out to join him in the Red Bull.
Just as we say that, he drops to a 1m44s - his slowest lap of a run that is now into double figures.
This is more like it from Hamilton. The Mercedes driver has turned the wick up slightly, stringing together a sequence of 1m40.3s laps and following that up with a 1m39.827s. This is turning into a tidy run.
Hamilton's times might have risen slightly, but bringing the fastest time of the day so close to 2013 race pace is one in the eye for those concerned about the speed of the new cars.
The concern that 2014-spec F1 was "too slow" was shared by several drivers after Jerez. Looks like we're moving away from that as teams get to grips with the new-generation machines.
The concern that 2014-spec F1 was "too slow" was shared by several drivers after Jerez. Looks like we're moving away from that as teams get to grips with the new-generation machines.
Hamilton, now up to 60 laps for the day, is still pounding round on the same run that started with that pace-setting time.
Since that 1m37.9s effort he has been consistently lapping around 1m40s-1m41s.
Since that 1m37.9s effort he has been consistently lapping around 1m40s-1m41s.
Quote
McLaren rear end detail
GARY ANDERSON explains the scorching we saw on the rear of the McLaren earlier.
"By regulation, the back of the rear impact structure/rear light has to have its centre at 300mm high.
"With the exhaust pipe mounted on the centre line of the car and the minimum height defined in the regulations at 350mm, this is where most teams would want the exhaust outlet to help the diffuser.
"So it's no wonder that the top of the crash box gets a little scorched. Improved heat shielding will soon fix this, but I wonder if it would pass the rear impact test in this condition?"
Stopwatch
Hamilton leaps back to the top of the times on his 53rd lap of the test. First man into the 1m37s, putting him just a second shy of Vettel's fastest race lap at last year's Bahrain Grand Prix.
Hamilton heads back out. He's second on lap time and laps completed, trailing Magnussen by 0.858s and Sutil by four laps.
Vettel's four laps at least means his team now has more miles under its belt today than Williams (3) and Marussia (2).
With a lap time on the board, Vettel returns to the pits. Red Bull has four laps in the bag, while Mercedes, Sauber, Caterham and Ferrari have all surpassed 40 already.
Vettel sets a 'flying' lap, and by that we mean he's registered his first timed lap of the day. It's a 1m45.095s, nearly 7s adrift of Magnussen's pace at the front.
Stopwatch
McLaren's Kevin Magnussen is still setting the pace. He's the only man in the 1m38s now, while Force India's Nico Hulkenberg has closed to within a tenth of Lewis Hamilton's Mercedes.
Sauber's Adrian Sutil has jumped Fernando Alonso's Ferrari to go fourth quickest.
Sauber's Adrian Sutil has jumped Fernando Alonso's Ferrari to go fourth quickest.
The world champion heads back out in the RB10...
Vettel's installation lap at least means that he and the Red Bull have appeared on the timing screens for today, leaving just Toro Rosso missing.
To give a sense of how much catching up Red Bull has to do, here's our round-up of the Jerez test last month, showing just how much mileage everyone managed, and Red Bull is firmly at the foot of the pile:
Jerez test results, stats and round-up
Jerez test results, stats and round-up
But just as we publish that, a breakthrough in the pitlane as Vettel finally leaves the garage and heads out on track.
There's still just over three hours of running to go for the German today.
There's still just over three hours of running to go for the German today.
Red Bull
And our photographers bring evidence of the Red Bull/Renault discussions as we still wait for any sign of movement from the champion squad's garage.
Feel free to analyse the frowns.
Lots of people in the Sakhir media centre nodding appreciatively at this video Mercedes has just published - a 360-degree onboard lap of Silverstone with its W05 on its filming/shakedown day last month.
By: Glenn Freeman, Matt Beer, Ben Anderson, Scott Mitchell
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