Verstappen Shatters Previous Year's Day 1 Bahrain Testing Record

The new F1 season is here, and Max Verstappen started it with a bang, beating last year's record lap time during Day 1 of testing at the Bahrain International Circuit.

While many fans observe what the teams changed on their cars during the reveals of the new challengers, the first real indication of where the teams stand is the pre-season testing, which has been held at the Bahrain International Circuit in the most recent seasons.

Last year, the Dutch driver was the fastest during the first day, completing a lap in 1:32.837, ahead of second Fernando Alonso in Aston Martin, who was only 0.029 seconds behind.

That was with RB19, and this year, Red Bull brought a brand new RB20 to Bahrain, which features some really bold choices when it comes to how the car lets the air to enter it.

The Dutch driver will complete the full Day 1 session in RB20, while his teammate, Sergio Perez, will complete the full Day 3 session, and they will swap in the car during Day 2.

Early on, Verstappen appeared to be struggling in RB20, as he was all over the place in a few of the laps, struggling to keep the car on the track and trailing the leaders, first Fernando Alonso and then Ferrari's Charles Leclerc, by multiple seconds.

Of course, as during Free Practice sessions during the regular season, it's difficult to establish what engine modes or fuel loads teams run during these runs, but the fastest laps overall should be quite indicative of how fast the cars really are.

After over two hours of testing, the three-time World Champion already beat the last year's Day 1 record, completing a lap in 1:32.548 on C3 compound of tires, going 0.699 second ahead of second Leclerc.

Still, it's important to note that while the first day may already be indicative of how fast the cars are, last year, Day 2 and Day 3 brought further improvements to the fastest lap time, with the second day bringing 1:31.610 from Zhou Guanyu, while the final day, and fastest lap overall was recorded by Sergio Perez at 1:30.305.