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Formula 1 Bahrain March Testing

F1 Bahrain pre-season test - Day 1

Minute by minute updates on the opening day of the 2022 Bahrain F1 pre-season test

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes W13, Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing RB18

All 10 teams are set to be in action for the first day of the Bahrain pre-season test, fresh off the back of the Barcelona shakedown test two weeks ago which saw the debut of the new era of F1 with the new cars devised under the new technical regulations.

Track action gets underway at 7am GMT and finishes at 4pm GMT. The day will be split by a one-hour lunch break (11am-12pm GMT) which can be reduced if requested due to lost track time from either red flags or poor weather conditions.

The opening day will provide a first look at what changes each team has made to the cars following the Barcelona pre-season shakedown test, as teams search for ways to solve the porpoising phenomenon which cropped up in the shakedown test.

Haas is set to miss the morning session after a late arrival of freight due to transport delays, with reserve driver Pietro Fittipaldi prepared to drive the VF-22 this afternoon for the US team.

On the eve of the Bahrain test, Haas announced Kevin Magnussen would make a return to F1 to replace Nikita Mazepin following the termination of his contract, while the team also cut ties to title sponsor Uralkali due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The Bahrain pre-season test will take place on 10-12 March ahead of the 2022 F1 season opener at the same venue, the Bahrain Grand Prix, on 18-20 March.

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Ross Brawn has had his say on Mercedes' revamped sidepod package. Speaking to F1 TV, he said: "There's no doubt that the Mercedes concept we didn't anticipate, it's a very extreme interpretation of the regulations. And I think inevitably, there's going be a lot of debate about their interpretation. That's what happens with new regulations." 

Full story here: https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/brawn-extreme-mercedes-design-not-anticipated-by-f1-2022-rules/8867087/
Red Bull turned in the most laps during this morning's running, with Perez completing 70 tours aboard the RB18 compared to 64 for Leclerc. Meanwhile, Hamilton delivered 62 tours as Mercedes worked to correlate its headline-grabbing design changes with its own simulations. We'll have more on that shortly.
There will be an hour's lunch break before the afternoon session gets underway at 12:00 GMT. What will the drivers have for lunch? My guess is it won't be a Pizza Hut buffet, but you never know.
Here's the full report from this morning's session in Bahrain, as Charles Leclerc set the pace for Ferrari: https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/2022-f1-bahrain-test-day-1-session-1-/8866813/
Drivers are currently lining up on the grid to do practice starts, before returning to their garages.
Haas excepted - the team suffering a freight delay that meant it was late in setting up and missed the morning's running - McLaren logged the fewest laps of anybody. Just 21 laps in the books for Lando Norris, who replaced an unwell Daniel Ricciardo.
As a reminder, Leclerc set his fastest lap on the medium tyre, while Albon in second used the C4 soft tyre. What that all means though, at this stage, is up for conjecture with all the usual caveats surrounding testing applying.
Checkered flag
Nobody on course to improve as the checkered flag waves to bring down the curtain on this morning's running, which ends with Charles Leclerc fastest for Ferrari.
Hamilton gets a bucket of on-power oversteer coming off the final corner, which he does well to catch. The Mercedes is fifth in the standings so far, Hamilton's best 1.8s down on the pace-setting Ferrari.
Could we see any improvements before the end of the session? Don't rule it out, but if I were a technical director I'd be wanting to keep my powder dry a little longer yet.
That VSC is now over and we're back to green running for the final seven or so minutes of the morning session. A good spot from Haydn Cobb is that Albon was due to set another purple sector before hitting the yellows.
Yellow flag
We have a virtual safety car on track now.
Leclerc duly aborts that lap after a scruffy opening, culminating in running wide over the kerb at Turn 7 and almost coming to a halt at the apex of Turn 8.
Leclerc has just been into the pits and switched to the C2 Prototype tyre with no markings on the side. Somehow they serve to make the Ferrari - already one of the most menacing-looking cars out there - even more so. We approve.
Gasly on the C2 hard tyre has had a few lock-ups recently, the latest of them coming at Turn 10. Perhaps he fancied a closer look at the drag strip that runs parallel to that back straight.
Albon improves again on the C4 rubber to a 1m35.070s with a fastest first sector time of anybody, but Leclerc remains on top as the only man so far to venture into the 1m34s. Vettel also improves to a 1m35.706s on the mediums but remains third.
In flow-vis watch, Hamilton's Mercedes is running a subtle lilac that's almost invisible to the naked eye at speed, but shows nicely on the tremendous slow-mo shots into Turn 10.
Leclerc and Gasly are the only two drivers out on track at the moment - the Ferrari man becomes the second driver today to hit the 50-lap marker, with Perez having done the most of anybody so far with 58.
Pierre Gasly is running on the C2 hard tyre in the AlphaTauri and also improves his time, but it doesn't move him up the leaderboard as he remains ninth. That lap was a 1m37.888s from the Frenchman.
Up to second now leaps Alex Albon in the Williams, who is using the C4 soft rubber. It's a 1m35.217s for the Anglo-Thai driver.
Running the mediums, Leclerc sets a purple first sector but is slower in his second and third segments of the lap to end up 0.277s down on his own personal best with a 1m34.808s. The Ferrari man remains fastest though, with Vettel now in second for Aston, 1.6s adrift.
Zhou has a big old lockup at the end of the pit straight with his right-front. The Chinese driver's best effort from his 38 tours to date remains a 1m37.164, and has him seventh in the leaderboard currently ahead only of low-key McLaren (21 laps) and AlphaTauri (31 laps).
There's plenty of green flow-vis paint on the floor area of Guanyu Zhou's Alfa Romeo. It's still clearly identifiable as an Alfa though - unlike when Williams launched an unwitting Duckhams Van Diemen tribute livery with its generous application of yellow flow-vis in Barcelona.
Sebastian Vettel is currently running in a set of medium tyres on his Aston Martin, giving everybody another chance to see his new anti-war helmet complete with Ukrainian flag.

It follows a special 'no war' photoshoot organised by the Grand Prix Drivers Association that took place in Bahrain on Wednesday. More on that here:  https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/vettel-reveals-no-war-helmet-design-in-bahrain-f1-test/8863975/
In case you're wondering what all the fuss is about with the new rules, why not check out this piece from Stuart Codling in the latest issue of sister title GP Racing, which comes out today: https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/the-key-tech-changes-that-could-disrupt-f1-2022/8850176/
Of course, it could be much worse. Poor old Pietro Fittipaldi not only won't get his chance to race the Haas, with Kevin Magnussen swooping back into the fold to replace the ousted Nikita Mazepin, but he's not turned a wheel today so far due to the team's freight delay.
Esteban Ocon is now pounding around in the unfamiliar pink-tinged Alpine. He's logged 28 laps so far - 20 fewer than Perez, who has done the most of anybody so far.
Hamilton is pushing, and locks up into the tricky Turn 10 left-hander. But that last lap was only in the 1m40s bracket - four seconds slower than Perez, who is lapping close to his personal best in the 1m36s.
Lewis Hamilton now heads out of the pits to join the action on a set of medium tyres. He stutters a bit out of his box and after a brief pause, goes on his way.
Good morning all, thank you for joining us on Autosport's Live text coverage of the second test in Bahrain. With just over 50 minutes to go in the morning session, we've got three cars currently out on track - with Sergio Perez (Red Bull) joining the fray alongside current pace-setter Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) and Alex Albon (Williams).
It is time to hand over to James Newbold to take you through the final action of the morning session, as I go to look for more marine creatures to compare F1 cars to.
Quote
Horner on his comments about the Mercedes sidepod design, despite Red Bull stating "no official comment" has been made by the team: "I was slightly surprised to be reading comments that I was supposed to have been making. To be honest with you I haven't paid a great deal of attention to it, but it is obviously a fairly different concept, but that is for the aero guys and the designers to get into."
Fairly even spread on the lap counts so far this morning - taking out the non-running Haas at the moment - with Red Bull at the top with 44 laps and McLaren at the bottom with 21.
Following Hamilton for a full lap it is clear to see the porpoising issue remains, albeit not as dramatic as what was on show in Barcelona. Still very bouncy at high speeds.
Hamilton on an out-lap blasts by Schumacher who is watching trackside in a tight-fitting vest and shorts combination. Good time to get his tan on, I guess.
As the AlphaTauri rear wing is painted white it really highlights how big the DRS flap is. You could fit the entire F1 rulebook through that slot.

By: Haydn Cobb

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