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Max Verstappen topped the first day of Formula 1 pre-season testing in Bahrain, also completing over two race distances in a strong day for Red Bull.
Daniel Ricciardo had led the morning times for McLaren, but that effort was beaten by six drivers in the afternoon.
After the lunchbreak drivers were met by a track covered by sand following a minor storm, with most teams and drivers electing to remain in the pits despite the fact testing is limited to three days this year.
Verstappen first beat Ricciardo’s benchmark with 2h35m remaining in the session while still running the C2 hard compound tyre he spent most of the day on.
However, he switched to the medium C3 inside the final hour and delivered a 1m31.674s lap to top the order by over four tenths of a second. He managed 139 laps.
In defending McLaren’s honour, Lando Norris bolted on a set of mediums for a fast lap inside the last half hour and moved up to second, 0.215s adrift of the pacesetter.
Verstappen was undoubtedly the star of the day but close behind was Esteban Ocon, who notched just under 130 laps for Alpine, and was only bumped out of second late on by Norris’s late flier.
Ocon did have to use the soft C4 tyre for his rapid lap.
Aston Martin had an under the radar start to the day as Sebastian Vettel ground to a halt in the pitlane with a “small” issue in the morning, although Lance Stroll added 46 laps to the team’s tally and set the fourth fastest time with 18 minutes to go on the C3 medium tyre.
His best was 1.108s adrift of Verstappen.
Carlos Sainz Jr ended Antonio Giovinazzi’s almost afternoon-long reign as the fastest Ferrari-powered car.
Sainz made use of a run with 11 minutes remaining on the medium C3 tyre to jump into fifth behind Stroll, 1.245s behind the leader with over 100 laps on the board for the team over the course of the day.
Giovinazzi managed sixth in an impressive day, albeit 1.271s adrift of the pace up front. His 68 laps coupled with 63 from Kimi Raikkonen will be valuable for Alfa Romeo.
Giovinazzi’s lap bettered Ricciardo and Pierre Gasly’s efforts from the morning session.
Behind Ricciardo and Gasly, the latter’s AlphaTauri team-mate Yuki Tsunoda went ninth fastest after exchanging times with Giovinazzi earlier in the session.
Lewis Hamilton rounded out the top 10 in somewhat unfamiliar surroundings. He was tasked with taking over a Mercedes that had very little morning running due to a gearbox issue that limited Valtteri Bottas to six laps.
Despite having a loose mirror and asking for a back-up set of pedals, Hamilton did manage to notch up 42 laps for the defending champion team.
Hamilton appeared to struggle to keep the Mercedes on the road after returning to the track inside the last 15 minutes on the C2 hard tyre.
Multiple instances of running wide and locking his wheels cost him. A late virtual safety car halted any potential improvement.
Friday times
1 Verstappen (Red Bull) 1m30.674s
2 Norris (McLaren) 1m30.889s
3 Ocon (Alpine) 1m31.146s
4 Stroll (Aston Martin) 1m31.782s
5 Sainz (Ferrari) 1m31.919s
6 Giovinazzi (Alfa Romeo) 1m31.945s
7 Ricciardo (McLaren) 1m32.203s
8 Gasly (AlphaTauri) 1m32.231s
9 Tsunoda (AlphaTauri) 1m32.727s
10 Hamilton (Mercedes) 1m32.912s
11 Leclerc (Ferrari) 1m33.242s
12 Raikkonen (Alfa Romeo) 1m33.320s
13 Vettel (Aston Martin) 1m33.742s
14 Nissany (Williams) 1m34.789s
15 Mazepin (Haas) 1m34.798s
16 Schumacher (Haas) 1m36.127s
17 Bottas (Mercedes) 1m36.850s
