The first day of Formula 1's pre-season test was halted by a power cut that prompted a red flag halfway through the afternoon session.
The opening day of F1 2025's three-day Bahrain test had largely run without incident, with a spin for Liam Lawson (who recovered soon after) the closest the session came to a stoppage.
But two hours into the four-hour afternoon session the Bahrain International Circuit appeared to be struck by a power cut that left some of the garages in darkness as well as many of the paddock buildings including the media centre.
That led to a bizarre scenario where mechanics had to use torches to see the cars in the garage.
🚩 Red flag... for a possible power cut?
— The Race (@wearetherace) February 26, 2025
That's a new one. Red Bull having to work in the dark! pic.twitter.com/907z7Vo67t
The session - currently led by Charles Leclerc - won't be resumed until the power cut is resolved.
"I came out of the pits and I was like 'it's suddenly quite dark out here'," Russell said.
"I radioed saying I need to change my visor, then I realised there were no floodlights around. Would have been a bit hectic if this was an hour later when the sun had set."
A statement from F1 read: "At approximately 5pm today, a power outage caused by an external substation failure led to the afternoon session on track to be paused. Power has since been restored and the afternoon session has resumed."
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With just over an hour to go in the session, the red flag was downgraded to yellows as many of the floodlights flickered on and power was restored to multiple areas of the track. The safety car followed with 59 minutes left in the session.
With 55 minutes remaining the green flag flew again and a few minutes later, cars were back on track.
The session was extended by an hour to "compensate for the time lost under the red flag".
