Max Verstappen put Red Bull's new 2024 Formula 1 car at the forefront in Bahrain as the ten teams completed more than 500 laps on the first morning of pre-season testing.
Key moments
- Verstappen was seven tenths ahead on the first morning
- Albon brings Williams to a stop late on
- First opportunity to see the technology of 2024 in more detail
The first morning of testing in 2024 provided a closer look at the RB20, which was described when it was launched last week as a “fairly aggressive” evolution of the RB19, which won all but one of last year's 22 Grands Prix.
These new details included halo intakes as well as other details surrounding the sidepod design. Red Bull has seemingly split its entry into the 2024 car into two parts.
While the RB20 appeared to be a handful at the start of the four-hour session, it appeared far more cooperative when Verstappen switched to the mid-range C3 yellow-sidewall tires and went fastest within the first two hours.
Verstappen, back in the Red Bull later on Wednesday afternoon, was even faster on a subsequent run, finishing the session with a best time of 1:32.548 minutes – meaning he was the only driver to equal his best from the first day of 2023 ( 1:32). 837s).
Charles Leclerc was at one point within two tenths of the Red Bull, but Verstappen's improvement meant the Ferrari driver ended the session 0.699 seconds behind.
Leclerc had a few stalls and the SF-24 seemed to jump a bit on the approach to Turn 1, but otherwise his session went smoothly.
Fernando Alonso was the only other driver to come within a second of Verstappen's early benchmark, driving 0.837 seconds less. He was the busiest driver of the morning session, completing 77 laps in the new Aston Martin AMR24.
McLaren had a slow start to the morning, but Oscar Piastri completed more than 50 laps en route to the fourth fastest time, three tenths behind Alonso.
The MCL38 was one of the most highly anticipated cars to come out of the pitlane in Bahrain, as McLaren was discreet about the angles of its new car at its launch last week, but it appeared with no significant differences to the specifications previously seen.
Yuki Tsunoda was fifth fastest for the renamed RB team ahead of George Russell, who had a cautious session for Mercedes.
Russell spent an extended period of more than half an hour in the Mercedes pits in the middle of the session, but the team said his focus was on learning rather than what it described as “accumulating kilometers”. He completed 48 laps.
Alex Albon, who finished eighth behind Valtteri Bottas' Sauber, was the only driver to stop on track during the session.
He brought the Williams FW46, seen for the first time on Tuesday, to a stop outside Turn 3 with 25 minutes to go after slowing on the main straight and then aborting the right-to-left switchback in Turn 1/2 the start of the round.
The car, which completed 40 laps but was driven extensively with Flo-Vis paint, was brought back to the Williams workshop at the end of the session. Albon was an outlier on the softer C4 compound with his best time of 1:34.587 minutes.
Esteban Ocon was ninth for Alpine, while Kevin Magnussen – whose Haas spent some time in the stands in the garage due to a reported fuel system problem – was tenth, 3.144 seconds behind Verstappen's benchmark.
WEDNESDAY TIMES
1 Max Verstappen (Red Bull) 1:32.548 minutes, C3 tires, 66 laps
2 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) +0.699 seconds, C3, 64 laps
3 Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) +0.837 seconds, C3, 77 laps
4 Oscar Piastri (McLaren) +1.110 seconds, C3, 57 laps
5 Yuki Tsunoda (RB) +1.588 seconds, C3, 64 laps
6 George Russell (Mercedes) +1.682 seconds, C3, 48 laps
7 Valtteri Bottas (Sauber) +1.883 seconds, C3, 68 laps
8 Alex Albon (Williams) +2.039 seconds, C4, 40 laps
9 Esteban Ocon (Alpine) +2.129 seconds, C1, 60 laps
10 Kevin Magnussen (Haas) +3.144 seconds, C3, 66 laps
