2024 Bahrain Pre-Season Testing Day 1 - Morning Session Summary And Results

Formula 1 cars hit the track for the first time on the 21st of February during the pre-season testing in Bahrain. Here are the results and the summary.

We couldn't wait for it, and today, it finally came. The winter break is over, and F1 cars officially hit the track altogether in Bahrain during the first day of pre-season testing.

F1 teams were only allowed 200km (124 miles) for shakedown and filming purposes, but the actual tests for their cars begin today. As the session started, all cars were on the track within the first 30 minutes.

All the teams were keen on bringing out aero rakes stacked with sensors and flow vis (the bright orange or green paint sprayed on the car) to measure airflow around the bodyworks of their 2024 challengers.

Many looked forward to seeing more detailed shots of Red Bull's RB20. Red Bull introduced a new bold and aggressive design during the car's launch, and everybody can't wait to see how it performs on the track.

What became apparent during the session is that Red Bull does, in fact, have a small entry into the side pods from the front side that wasn't visible during the launch.

Alpine's Esteban Ocon had a moment 1 hour and 20 minutes into the session when the rear of his car snapped, and he had to counter-steer into the gravel coming out of turn four.

The Frenchman also mentioned on his radio there was an issue with the power unit, but then he was able to carry on with his session as if there was nothing wrong.

George Russell, who was driving the Mercedes, suffered an issue with a hybrid system, which hindered the progress of his testing day, but it was quickly fixed, and the Briton continued on with his session.

Max Verstappen broke the previous year's best time of the first testing day already about 3 hours into the first session.

The regulations say each team can only have one car on track simultaneously. Consequently, each team dedicated the morning session to only one of their drivers.

The evening session is set to follow after a one-hour lunch break. Some drivers will then change in the seats of their cars. George Russell and Max Verstappen are the only two drivers from the morning session who will continue driving in the evening.