Bahrain Day 1 trials: Red Bull and Aston Martin neck and neck, remarkable reliability
At the end of the first day of testing, discover the summary of the first laps of the 2023 test runs.
Max Verstappen set the fastest time of the day in 1’32”837. He is ahead of Fernando Alonso and Carlos Sainz. Charles Leclerc is fourth followed by Lando Norris, who only completed 40 laps. Kevin Magnussen is last with a time of 1’35”087.
Aston Martin encountered some mechanical issues at the beginning of each session. Indeed, after his teammate Felipe Drugovich this morning, Fernando Alonso also had to stop at the stands for a while due to a broken floor.
If the watchword of this first day is reliability, teams still made sometimes long pit stops in the garage.
Due to the observed “porpoising” (dolphin effect) on the ground-effect single-seaters, the ride height has been raised by 10 mm for this 2023 season in order to limit the phenomenon. However, even though it is less significant, we have still observed it today, particularly with Ferrari. Our observations on the straight lines also show that some single-seaters are much lower than others and generate more sparks. Considering the different setups and team organizations, it is probable that the ride heights decrease as the testing week progresses.
The ranking of the first day.
| N° | Driver | Team | Times | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Verstappen | Oracle Red Bull Racing | 1:32.837 | 157 | |
| 2 | Alonso | Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 Team | 1:32.866 | +0.029 | 60 |
| 3 | Sainz | Scuderia Ferrari | 1:33.253 | +0.416 | 72 |
| 4 | Leclerc | Scuderia Ferrari | 1:33.267 | +0.430 | 64 |
| 5 | Norris | McLaren F1 Team | 1:33.462 | +0.625 | 40 |
| 6 | Hamilton | Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport | 1:33.508 | +0.671 | 83 |
| 7 | Albon | Williams Racing | 1:33.723 | +0.886 | 74 |
| 8 | Guanyu | Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN | 1:34.174 | +1.337 | 67 |
| 9 | Russell | Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport | 1:34.324 | +1.487 | 69 |
| 10 | Sargeant | Williams Racing | 1:34.424 | +1.587 | 75 |
| 11 | Hülkenberg | Haas F1 Team | 1:34.558 | +1.721 | 51 |
| 12 | Bottas | Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN | 1:34.558 | +1.721 | 71 |
| 13 | De Vries | Scuderia AlphaTauri | 1:34.559 | +1.722 | 85 |
| 14 | Drugovich | Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 Team | 1:34.564 | +1.727 | 40 |
| 15 | Tsunoda | Scuderia AlphaTauri | 1:34.671 | +1.834 | 46 |
| 16 | Gasly | BWT Alpine F1 Team | 1:34.822 | +1.985 | 60 |
| 17 | Ocon | BWT Alpine F1 Team | 1:34.871 | +2.034 | 53 |
| 18 | Piastri | McLaren F1 Team | 1:34.888 | +2.051 | 52 |
| 19 | Magnussen | Haas F1 Team | 1:35.087 | +2.250 | 57 |
