Verstappen fastest on first day of Bahrain F1 test, Mercedes struggle

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen set the headline-grabbing pace on the opening day of Formula 1 pre-season testing in Bahrain as Mercedes endured a sub-optimal start to 2021.

After Daniel Ricciardo topped the morning session, Verstappen lowered the pace to a 1m30.674s in the afternoon when he strapped on a set of C3 Medium tyres on his way to posting the fastest time of the day in Red Bull’s updated RB16B challenger.

Despite a sandstorm making track conditions and visibility particularly challenging after the lunch break, Verstappen twice set a new benchmark time as day turned into night at the Bahrain International Circuit.

The Dutchman also clocked the most mileage of any driver, completing a total of 139 laps on what was an encouraging start to 2021 for Red Bull as it looks to table a serious title challenge to Mercedes this year.

It was a far from ideal opening day for Mercedes, with a gearbox issue costing Valtteri Bottas nearly three hours of track time in the morning and limiting the Finn to just 12 laps.

Things improved slightly for the reigning world champion outfit in the afternoon when newly-knighted seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton got behind the wheel of the W12 for the first time.

But Hamilton still reported a number of niggling issues - including a problem with his pedals and a loose wing mirror - and often looked out of shape as he struggled for grip in his Mercedes throughout the afternoon.

He was able to turn in 40 laps as the German manufacturer looked to recover lost ground in the morning, but sat a lowly 10th in the timesheets at the end of the day, over two seconds adrift of Verstappen's effort.

McLaren’s Lando Norris was just 0.215s behind Verstappen in second place, ahead of Esteban Ocon, who racked up 129 laps on his own as he conducting sole driving duties for the new-look Alpine team.

Lance Stroll left it late to shoot up to fourth in the timesheets during the final hour of running on Pirelli’s unmarked prototype tyre, with new Ferrari recruit Carlos Sainz rounding out the top five.

Taking over from teammate Kimi Raikkonen for the afternoon, Antonio Giovinazzi wound up in P6 ahead of morning pacesetter Ricciardo and logged 69 laps.

AlphaTauri duo Pierre Gasly and Yuki Tsunoda completed 111 between them and were separated by around half a second as they finished eighth and ninth respectively, ahead of Hamilton who completed the top 10.

Full results from the opening day of pre-season testing in Bahrain.