F1 Bahrain 2021 pre-season testing - Day 1
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The Spaniard is running on the hard tyres and logs a 1m37.440s, which is just over 5s off the pace set by Ricciardo in his old car earlier today.
Ah, here comes Carlos Sainz Jr in the repaired Ferrari.
That first lap for Norris puts him P12, a 1m36.430s for the Brit - who you may remember scored his one and only F2 win in Bahrain back in 2018.
'Sando' Norris has just started his first flying lap in the Mercedes-powered McLaren MCL35M. We get that the 'M' suffix was added as a hat-tip to the new engine partner, but what's wrong with the classic 'B' suffix? Answers on a postcard please.
Drivers are now starting to make improvements. Mazepin has jumped ahead of team-mate Schumacher and Bottas to a place in the top 10, while Tsunoda has pushed Nissany down to ninth.
There's a few IndyCar drivers past-and-present who could also do a job around here - Marco Sandretti and Zach Beach spring to mind...
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By contrast, Mercedes had a poor morning after the gearbox problem that hampered Valtteri Bottas, but Toto Wolff is confident that the team can still recover.
"We weren’t very fast this morning," he said. "We only did one lap with an aero rake.
"It wasn’t a good start, because we had a gearbox issue that came out of nowhere that we haven’t yet been ready to identify and understand. So I hope it’s going, if we are able to have a smoother ride from here onwards, then I think we can recover.
"If we have more stumbling blocks, then obviously with three days there’s not a lot you can do."
"It wasn’t a good start, because we had a gearbox issue that came out of nowhere that we haven’t yet been ready to identify and understand. So I hope it’s going, if we are able to have a smoother ride from here onwards, then I think we can recover.
"If we have more stumbling blocks, then obviously with three days there’s not a lot you can do."
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So what did the team bosses make of this morning's running? Unsurprisingly, McLaren's Andreas Seidl was pretty pleased after Daniel Ricciardo topped the times.
"I would say it was a decent morning for us," he said. "We could complete the programme as planned, which is always important going into the first test day, for us in particular, very important this year only having three test days after switching to the Mercedes power unit, it’s very important to have smooth running, which we had. Everything is working as expected at the moment.
"Daniel also got the first taste of our McLaren today, first time for him also to use the car in anger, to work with his crew in these conditions. So far so good."
"Daniel also got the first taste of our McLaren today, first time for him also to use the car in anger, to work with his crew in these conditions. So far so good."
Tsunoda comes back out to play again, joined by Nissany. But no sign still of Mercedes, Aston Martin or Ferrari - after Leclerc broke down shortly before the end of the morning session.
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Four cars are out on track now as Mazepin ventures back out again. Cameras following Verstappen make it clear that conditions are even worse off-line - Giovinazzi nearly getting lost trying to find his way back after allowing the Red Bull through.
F1 should be going to Zandvoort later this year (or, literally translated, Sandford - not the town in Hot Fuzz mind), let's hope it's a little less sand-affected than this one...
After five laps, Tsunoda has now headed back to the pits - his best effort just 0.001s behind Mazepin. They're in 11th and 12th places, ahead only of Giovinazzi who is still getting up to speed.
Ocon, having presumably had an assistant wipe his helmet down and treat it to some new tear-offs, now ventures out for another run in the sand-blasted Alpine.
How about this for a wildcard entry to our second-favourite green machines contest? It's the 1996 Forti in its short-lived Shannon livery, being driven here by sometime F3000 race-winner Andrea Montermini.
It's perhaps a little outside the box, but there's a lot to like about its clean lines - even if it drove like it was ploughing through sand...
It's perhaps a little outside the box, but there's a lot to like about its clean lines - even if it drove like it was ploughing through sand...
Andrea Montermini, Forti 1996 French GP
Photo by: Motorsport Images
There's a little pressure probe on the front end of Giovinazzi's Alfa, as the team gets to grips with mapping the pressure around the car.
Verstappen is really pushing on, a 1m37.739s is within a second of his earlier best. Others are starting to follow suit, with Giovinazzi taking over the Alfa for the first time today.
Stopwatch
Tsunoda's first time is a 1m37.508s, 5.3s slower than team-mate Gasly managed earlier in - admittedly - much more favourable conditions.
Now Verstappen comes out to play too. This should be entertaining.
Tsunoda carries on to start a flying lap, dust and sparks emanating from the AlphaTauri in a rather spectacular fashion as he brakes for Turn 1.
Verstappen is also seated in his Red Bull - he does like a challenge, but one suspects he may not have experienced track conditions like these all that often.
Perhaps that moment has now arrived as Mazepin comes into the pits - but fellow rookie Tsunoda heads out to ensure there's still something for us to look at.
Mileage is mileage when you're a rookie - but one wonders how much representative information the Haas team will be gathering from his run. It might find out how much sand can clog the radiators before they overheat, which is something.
Ocon has come into the pits after his sand-gathering exercise, so Mazepin is currently the only car on-track.
The other Haas newcomer is around nine tenths off the pace his team-mate Schumacher managed earlier, with a best lap of 1m37.058s.
Tsunoda is now dropping into the AlphaTauri, gearing up for his first run in an official test. He's had some good running at Imola, but largely in an old car, so he'll have to get up to speed with the AT02.
Mazepin has a shuddering lock-up into the Turn 10 hairpin. That won't do his tyre life much good at all.
On the subject of best green cars, if we're barring this year's Aston, I can't believe Newbold hasn't mentioned the Lotus 25. Blasphemy.
You can see a sprinkling of flow-vis on Ocon's rear wing - but with the sand still hanging about, do you really need it?
We've been saving this one for the proverbial rainy day - in this case one of the sandy variety. We all know that the 1991 Jordan 191 is the best-looking F1 car with a green livery, but what should be the runner-up?
My early shout is the Tyrrell 011 (pictured en-route to the team's last win at Detroit in 1983), about which our colleague Stuart Codling wrote an excellent feature for GP Racing magazine last year.
PLUS: The last hurrah of two F1 titans
My early shout is the Tyrrell 011 (pictured en-route to the team's last win at Detroit in 1983), about which our colleague Stuart Codling wrote an excellent feature for GP Racing magazine last year.
PLUS: The last hurrah of two F1 titans
Michele Alboreto, Tyrrell 1983 US GP East
Photo by: Motorsport Images
Ocon's in the 1m39s, but the Haas on track is lapping in the 1m37s. Hopefully the circuit will begin to clear up a bit soon to give us a bit more action.
Ocon's decided to stay out for another lap, acting as roadsweeper to get testing going properly. The #9 is also trundling round.
Two hardy souls are making their way out of the pits. Ocon is joined by Mazepin, who takes over the Haas from Schumacher.
28km/h winds at the moment - about 17mph for the imperialists. Faster than anything else going on track at the moment...
There's one driver who should be able to cope with the conditions - Sando Norris. You're welcome.
Green flag
The session begins! Anyone fancy braving the storm?
Proof that Bottas did get some running done in the morning - although he'll be rather frustrated at losing the majority of the session to that early gearbox problem with a certain seven-time world champion taking over his car this afternoon.
Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes W12 Bahrain 2021 test
Photo by: Motorsport Images
A couple of stoppages happened in the first part of testing. Gearbox issues for Bottas and Schumacher, a pitlane stoppage for Vettel and an end-of-session red flag for Ferrari's Chuck Lecluck.
I think, looking at it, it's about 100%. I think Darude did a track about this...
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Risk of rain for the session? 0%. Risk of sand? That's currently unclear...
By: Haydn Cobb, Tom Howard, James Newbold, Jake Boxall-Legge
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