F1 test🍃ing ahead of the 2024 season is final☂ly here with three days of running at the Bahrain international Circuit.
It's the first time we will get to see all 10 teams run their🎀 new challengers in anger as they prepare for the new campaign.
That's a wrap on the opening 🔥day of pre-season testing in Bahrain. Have we just had a glimpse of what to expect from this coming season?
We will continue our live coverage of testing tomorrow morning from 6:30am, with the action ge꧂tting underway at 7am UK time.
The chequered flag is waved and that concludes the opening day of pre-season t𓆉esting.
Day one belongs to reigning world champion Max Verstappen, who was a full second clearღ of the pack.&nbs𒆙p;
Just 15 minutes of running on the opening day of testing remain. 🌞Will anybody strap on a set of soft tyres for some late performance runs🎀?
Verstappen has 💯found more time on his latest run - still on the C3 compound🍃.
It's a 1m31.344s for the reigning wor💮ld champion, which puts him 1.140s clear of the field...
Worth remembering the🌞se ꦿare the best conditions of the day.
🍃Sargeant is yet to emerge from the Williams garage after pitting with a suspected driveshaft issue.
The Am🗹erican had the most dramatic moment of the day an hour or so ago when he suffered a huge spin at Turn 9 and ended up taking a trip through the gravel.
With little over 30 minutes remaining,𒐪 will Williams manage to get him back out again today?
Norris locks up big time heading into Turn 9, but the McLaren driver scoops up his car and manages to just about keep🧸 it under control and on track, avoiding further drama.
Verstappen briefly follows Russell on track before launching one down the inside of t﷽he Mercedes driver into ﷺTurn 13.
We are headinওg into the final hour of running on the first day of testing in 2024.
Will we get to see any performance ru𝔉ns towards the end of the day? ꦉ;
Verstappen has gone even quicker by posting a 1m31.662s on tꦫhe C3 compound.
The Dutchman has also surpassed a ಌcentury of laps for the da𝓡y.
McLaren for the title? Well it's early days🐼 but Norris has taken to the top with a 1♐m32.484s, 0.084s ahead of Verstappen.
Verstappen still leads the way on a 1m32.548s, less🐭 than a tenth ahead of Sainz who has slott🀅ed into second-fastest.
Norris, Leclerc, Alonso, Piastri, Russell, Tsunoda, Zhou and Bottas complete the🎶 top 10.
Expect times to keep on getting quicker as the track grips up and the temp🧔eratures start to come down in Bahrai🌟n.
The session will fi𝕴nish under the floodlights - so keep an eye out for more performance runs at the end of the day.
Toto Wolff has been speaking to the media i♛n Bahrain
You can read what he said here...
Here's Zhou Guanyu on track for the first time today, sporting a splash of flow-vis paint on the side 🎀of his Sauber.
After taking over fro❀m teammate Leclerc, Sain꧒z is on the move and has slotted into fourth overall.
🌟The Spaniardꩵ is currently 0.838s off Verstappen's benchmark from earlier.
Hulkenberg iꦦs 🍌the only other driver out on track currently.
Anthony Davidson told Sky: "Aston Martin looked pretty nice at Turn One. Fernando Alonso was able to h🐻ook it up well, get good rotation into theꦗ car and then have a steady rear end when it accelerated through the exit
"The Red Bull at that time seemed to suffer a bit of understeer mid-corner of Turn One but then ไhad really good rear stability through Turn Two as you pick up the speed. So two different characteristics from that car in the space of two corners."
Just three laps completed ♛by George Russell before he goes back into the pits.
Carlos Sainz and Max Verstappen the🐻💝 only drivers on track currently.
"Morning done, lots of laps. We did all the tests that we𒁏 wanted to do. That's good.
"Now we analyse the data as much as possible to see if ๊it correlates to what we expected.
"Then, we work from there."
We know how✱ important mileage is in testing, and it is Aston Martin who have racked up the most laps of anyone so far today, with Fernando Alonso logging 77 this morning.
"It was good🌺," said team principal Mike Krack. "W🦋e had a promotional event at Silverstone last week and here is a different track, different conditions. But he was happy with how it went."
Krack also revealed that Aston Martin will be bri🍌nging new parts to their AM24 on each day of the test in Bahrain.
Ferrari'🐼s Carlos Sainz putting his first laps together now.
Max Verstappen
George Russell
Carlos Sainz
Lando Norris
Lance Stroll
Pierre Gasly
Logan Sargeant
Zhou Guanyu
Nico Hulkenberg
Daniel Ricciardo
