Verstappen tops opening day of F1 testing as Alonso closes in
The reigning world champion found further improvement in his brand-new RB19 to set a 1m32.837 and retain top spot in the second session on the first day of running at Sakhir.
Verstappen, who is looking to become just the fifth driver in F1 history to win three consecutive world championships, completed a mammoth 157 laps as he outpaced new Aston Martin recruit Alonso by just 0.029s.
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Lap times mean very little this early on in testing, but Alonso certainly grabbed attention with a flurry of quick laps in the final hour of the day, having initially been stuck in the garage with floor damage.
It marked a decent turnaround for Aston Martin, who started the day on the back foot when electrical gremlins brought Felipe Drugovich to a halt and caused the only red flag interruption of the day.
Carlos Sainz’s best lap from the morning was good enough to keep him inside the top three, narrowly ahead of Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc, who took over behind the wheel of the SF-23 after the lunch break.
It was not the cleanest of starts to testing for McLaren, with the team forced into lengthy wheel brow repairs which initially restricted Lando Norris’ run programme.
Norris ended the day fifth fastest, some six-tenths down on Verstappen’s benchmark time.
Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton got his first proper taste of driving Mercedes’ W14 in the afternoon and finished 0.671s behind his 2021 title rival.
Mercedes were pleased to report they experienced “no bouncing”, 12 months on from their troubled test in Bahrain in which their W13 was plagued by severe porpoising.
Completing the rest of the top 10 were Alex Albon, Zhou Guanyu, George Russell and F1 rookie Logan Sargeant.
Sergio Perez was the only driver not in action on Thursday as Verstappen completed a full day behind the wheel of the RB19.
The second day of pre-season testing gets underway at 7am UK time on Friday.
