F1 Bahrain 2021 pre-season testing - Day 1
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A few changes to the driving line-up for this part of the day - headlined by Hamilton taking over the Mercedes and Sainz taking over the Ferrari. Norris, Mazepin, Stroll, Tsunoda and Giovinazzi are also driving.
Just 15 minutes until we get back up and running for the afternoon part of testing at Bahrain.
We'll take a bit of a break too, as we need caffeine and other sustenance, but we'll be back in a bit to build up for part 2.
The sight of that Toyota course car has got us thinking about perhaps the greatest missed opportunity of the Japanese manufacturer's spell in F1, when it locked out the front row of the 2009 Bahrain GP with Jarno Trulli and Timo Glock but only came away with third place courtesy of a disappointed Trulli.
Arguably Toyota's best chance of an F1 victory had slipped through its fingers, and the team had left F1 by season's end. Here's Mark Gallagher's take on the big-spending marque's dismal failure, which first appeared in sister title GP Racing last year.
PLUS: How Toyota's grand plans for F1 domination fell flat
Arguably Toyota's best chance of an F1 victory had slipped through its fingers, and the team had left F1 by season's end. Here's Mark Gallagher's take on the big-spending marque's dismal failure, which first appeared in sister title GP Racing last year.
PLUS: How Toyota's grand plans for F1 domination fell flat
2009 Bahrain Grand Prix start
Photo by: Motorsport Images
Breaking news
Here's the morning report from the first part of testing: https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/ricciardo-fastest-as-mercedes-ferrari-hit-trouble-at-start-of-f1-testing/5695010/
After lunch, we'll have a change in some of the driving staff - Norris, Mazepin, Stroll, Tsunoda, Hamilton, Sainz and Giovinazzi will take the reins of their respective cars.
We'll have the report over to you soon, but it's getting very sandy out there. A lot of Pidgeottos using Sand Attack over Bahrain, it seems...
Ocon, Leclerc, Raikkonen, Vettel, Nissany, Schumacher and Bottas complete the first session order - that's one-sixth of testing over, folks!
Checkered flag
And that's the morning session over! Ricciardo is quickest with a 1m32.203s, with Gasly second and Verstappen third.
Gasly, Ocon, Vettel and Schumacher on track for the dying seconds - Ricciardo went out, and then came back in again.
Yellow flag
We're back up and running for the final couple of minutes, but with a VSC in order at the moment.
The race control car has turned up - a brand new Toyota Supra. Can I have one too, please?
Leclerc's helping to give its shove off the road, as they bring the SF21 to the service road.
Mechanical problem
The Monegasque has stopped at turn 4, and he's now getting out. It seems to be a mechanical issue there, sounding a little bit rough on the run to the corner.
Red flag
It's a red flag! Leclerc has stopped somewhere on track.
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Off track
A bit of an oversteery snap for Schumacher at Turn 11, escaping to the run-off - which is in bountiful supply at this circuit. Although, if the sandstorms continue, it'll all be gravel traps...
Off track
A slight off for Nissany there, having a wide at the notoriously tricky Turn 9-10 part. But in all honesty, I just wanted to use our new "off-track" icon in the Live setup...
Stopwatch
We've got Schumacher back out on the road now, on the C3 tyres. He's gone a shade quicker with a 1m36.127s, getting up to P9.
Speaking of Mansell, he was infamously a casualty of the last new McLaren-Mercedes partnership to hit F1 in 1995. The - ahem - distinctive MP4/10 was an ungainly beast that certainly didn't show much indication of what was to come in the all-conquering 1998-99 seasons. Here's our take on the car, with the input of then-head of aero Henri Durand.
PLUS: The 'wrong tree' car that ignited the McLaren-Mercedes partnership
PLUS: The 'wrong tree' car that ignited the McLaren-Mercedes partnership
Nigel Mansell, McLaren MP4-10 Mercedes
Photo by: Motorsport Images
We've 22 minutes remaining before the lunch break, as Gasly heads back into the garage. No particularly quick runs happening at this stage, as we're very much in the data-gather phase.
The new little flicks above the number on the Ferrari look like bushy eyebrows. Get a moustache on the nosecone and you've got yourself a Mansell...how's that for tech analysis?
The Ferrari looked as though it was kicking up smoke - but never fear! It's just sand. It's coarse, it's rough and gets everywhere...
Stopwatch
Bottas has gone faster than Schumacher on a 1m36.850s, but he's a bit away from the top. No surprises, however, given he's not really chasing the clock at this point...
At the moment, it's Gasly, Verstappen, Ocon, Raikkonen, Vettel, Nissany and Bottas on the road, with just over half an hour to run this morning.
The Finn's got the aero rakes on, to make up for lost time, and do a bit of correlation work. It also gives them a chance to test the AMG stickers and see if they add a bit of grunt...
There's a wild Bottas, making his way onto the circuit. He's done one lap today, so he's about to double his fun today in the Mercedes W12.
The man with the most laps today, Pierre Gasly, is back on the road. He's done 60 of them today - 3 more than the full race distance.
Bottas' Merc has started up, so clearly it's got its MOT and is road-ready. And in good time, too...
Stopwatch
Verstappen's dropped a 1m32.245s, staying third but getting closer to Ricciardo's time. Fastest middle sector too.
Bottas is in the Mercedes cockpit, as the team seems to have sorted out the gearbox. It's noseless at the moment, but they can just bolt on and crack on with making the most of the final 40-odd minutes of the morning.
Williams is the only team not running one of its race drivers today, as F2 midfielder Roy Nissany is given the honour of driving the new-look FW43B.
But back in 2005, it was pretty commonplace for teams to give new drivers run-outs, so we've delved into our archive to recall the time touring car ace Andy Priaulx made his F1 test bow with Williams. You can read it here.
But back in 2005, it was pretty commonplace for teams to give new drivers run-outs, so we've delved into our archive to recall the time touring car ace Andy Priaulx made his F1 test bow with Williams. You can read it here.
As if prompted by that previous message, we've now got Max and Roy on the road. Verstappen's on the C2 rubber, on which he set his best time so far.
Ricciardo, driving the McLaren-Mercedes on the C3 tyres, has the circuit to himself at the moment. There's 45 minutes left, he's done 42 laps so far. A good day's work so far.
...so that means that Hamilton will be in the car this afternoon, depriving Bottas of the ideal amount of running today. Not a great scenario, with that gearbox change.
Quote
Quoth our esteemed colleague Stuart Codling, "what word?". The word, from Mercedes at least, is it will "stick to the plan and aim to make up the lost mileage later in the test"...
Every now and again, we'll see cars going a little slower on the straights. All largely systems checks, etc at low speeds, making sure everything in the back of the car works as expected.
Ricciardo returns to the circuit, as ex-team-mate Ocon retreats to the pits to give his feedback on the Alpine A521. Our feedback is that it looks very, very nice indeed...
Photo
Here's the Iceman, locking up a little bit...
By: Haydn Cobb, Tom Howard, James Newbold, Jake Boxall-Legge
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