Minute by minute updates on the opening day of the 2024 F1 Bahrain pre-season test
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The 2024 F1 season is here with the start of pre-season testing in Bahrain.
All 10 teams have completed their launches but the opening day of testing marks the first time each 2024 car is truly unveiled to the world.
With Red Bull coming off a dominant 2023 season when it won all but one grand prix, can any of its rivals take the fight to the defending world champions?
The Bahrain pre-season test will run between 21-23 February, with each day’s track action starting at 7am GMT (10am local time).
Albon is stuck in the garage with a DRS issue that his Williams mechanics are fixing. They've got what looks like a makeshift board that is blocking the view of the rear wing.
Leclerc's Ferrari gets jittery through Turn 7 and then he locks up and flat spots his tyres into Turn 8. He had been pushing, setting a fastest first sector time earlier in the lap, but that's all gone to waste now.
After a flurry of lap time improvements, things are starting to settle down again as the run plans take hold. Piastri is notching up the laps now too, so it appears no real trouble down at McLaren after a slow start compared to the rest.
Verstappen has switched on to the C3s and the RB20 appears much more planted and trustworthy than earlier. The Red Bull driver goes top with a 1m33.065s.
Alonso goes fastest on the C3 tyres with a 1m33.385s, putting him two-tenths quicker than Leclerc, before he slams on the anchors down the main straight.
Another out-lap, in-lap run from Piastri takes his tally to nine laps this morning which is the fewest of any driver. Everyone else is pounding around and notching up the laps relatively trouble-free.
Alonso puts in a constant speed run which ups his own personal best to 1m33.762s to push him second overall, just a tenth off Leclerc's leading effort.
Going back to Red Bull’s new sidepods, Autosport F1 writer Jake Boxall-Legge explains what the team has revealed today and what it is aiming to achieve:
"A shrewd approach to lighting at Red Bull's launch kept the team's 2024 sidepods conspicuously hidden, but the veil has been removed as the cars hit the track in anger. The indications of a vertical inlet were proven true, but the team has also included a narrow horizontal inlet recessed into its sidepod overbite.
"Having both should ensure the radiators receive the right quantity of air to provide adequate cooling, but also ensures the aerodynamic profile remains optimised to shuttle airflow to the rear of the car. But, of course, the door remains ajar for a zeropod switch..."
Speaking of Williams, the team is sticking with a pull-rod rear suspension for its new car after jointly deciding with Mercedes not to take its revised layout. The full story can be found here.
Williams getting on it early with the flow-vis paint, Albon's front wing and nose drenched in bright red, and it means he posts his first lap time of the day: 1m34.856s on the C4s to go fourth overall.
Still no lap time from McLaren, as Piastri completes and out-lap, in-lap run. It is probably too early to start worrying, but McLaren's last two pre-season tests have been far from smooth so they'll be hoping for an easier time of it this year.
Tsunoda posts a 1m34.834s to go third fastest in the RB. For the record, the top time on the opening day of testing last year was a 1m32.837s set by Verstappen.
Verstappen is on track again, still on C2s, to give a closer look at those eye-catching sidepods again. To my untrained eyes the design looks similar to what Mercedes tried and gave up on last year, but how it works with the rest of the car with its inlets is different and rather intriguing. But we'll wait for the tech heads to provide a better explanation in due course.
Ocon logs his first proper lap time of the day to slot into sixth place with a 1m36.823s set on the C1 tyres. Just Williams and McLaren missing from the best lap section of the timing screen now.
Meanwhile Leclerc's Ferrari has a pair of small aero rakes clamped on the shoulders of the car, just behind the driver's cockpit. It appears the team is trying out a few different engine covers early on.
Magnussen heads back to the pits as the aero rake attached behind his front-right tyre was loose and wobbling about. All that data will be useless to the team.
There is a huddle of photographers and reporters around the Red Bull garage as everyone gets a close look at the RB20 and its Mercedes-style sidepods. Chief designer Newey is watching on closely, eager to understand how the latest creation stacks up compared to simulations.
The lean, green Sauber machine might have a lot of naked carbon fibre but the highlighter green really stands out on track. To the point I keep thinking it is covered in flow-vis paint when it goes by.
Out of the 10 teams, two have brand new names for 2024. For record and going forward, AlphaTauri will now be known as RB and Alfa Romeo will now be known as Sauber. There has been a lot of debate over the team names this winter over here and that's the outcome.
Assuming all goes to plan, there will be four hours of running in the morning session, then an hour lunch break, and then another four hours of track action in the afternoon on each day.
Hefty aero data collectors and rakes are attached to almost all the F1 cars - it is testing after all - and remember, all teams have just three days of testing to nail its cars set-up and reliability before the opening race. So every lap counts between now and Friday.
