Red flag in F1 testing; Mercedes, Ferrari inspect damage from loose drain cover
Preseason testing in Bahrain red-flagged after a loose drain cover damages Charles Leclerc's Ferrari
Mercedes and Ferrari inspected damage to their cars from a loose drain cover which caused a red flag on Thursday in F1 preseason testing in Bahrain.
The morning session was ended after a lengthy delay due to the bizarre incident which brought back memories of last season's F1 Las Vegas Grand Prix chaos.
Ferrari confirmed: "Following Charles Leclerc’s accident this morning, when he drove over a drain cover, the floor was damaged and we have now changed it."
On Thursday in Bahrain, it initially appeared that the red flag was due to debris from Lewis Hamilton's Mercedes on Day 2 of testing.
Debris could be seen flying into the air - either from his car or from the track.
But the issue was quickly identified as a drain cover on the approach to Turn 11.
A track inspection was required as work was carried out on the damaged kerb.
Mercedes' Hamilton and Charles Leclerc's Ferrari had both driven over the damaged area of track.
Ferrari put the shutters up inside the garage as they inspected the damage to Leclerc's car, an early sign that they were removing the all-important floor.
Mercedes' staff could be seen closely inspecting Hamilton's car too.
Memories from Las Vegas!
The remarkable scene on Thursday in Bahrain was similar to the drama at the F1 Las Vegas Grand Prix last year.
Ferrari's Carlos Sainz drove over a loose drain cover on the brand-new track during practice.
Fred Vasseur was left fuming as Ferrari counted the cost of the incident that was not their fault.
Rival F1 teams even agreed that a rule-change was required because Ferrari did not deserve to be punished for an issue which was outside of their control.
Leclerc fastest on Thursday morning
Ferrari's Leclerc went fastest in the morning session of F1 Bahrain preseason testing on Thursday, which was shortened due to the track issue.
His best time was 1m31.750s.
McLaren's Oscar Piastri was second, and Williams' Logan Sargeant was third.
Notably, Red Bull had to busily fix a brake fire to Sergio Perez's RB20.
Perez's brakes caught fire as he returned to the pits but were quickly put out by Red Bull engineers.
Hamilton was in action for Mercedes for the first time in Bahrain.
James was a sports journalist at Sky Sports for a decade covering everything from American sports, to football, to F1.
