- Written by Andrew Benson
- chief f1 writer
Three-time world champion Max Verstappen spent the entire day at Red Bull, setting the fastest times in the morning and afternoon sessions.
Red Bull's Max Verstappen had an inauspicious start to F1 pre-season testing, posting a lap time more than a second off the field.
The three-time world champion was 1.14 seconds faster than second-placed McLaren's Lando Norris, with Ferrari's Carlos Sainz 0.1 seconds behind in third place.
Test lap times are a notoriously unreliable guide due to the large number of variables that come into play.
However, Verstappen's car always looked composed and fast on track.
Red Bull enters 2024 on the back of last year's most dominant season in F1 history, winning all but one of the 22 races.
The new RB20 car has drawn admiration from up and down the pit lane for the number of innovations it incorporates, despite the team describing it as an “evolution” of last year's model.
Verstappen spent the day with Red Bull, completing 143 laps – more than twice the race distance – without any noticeable problems, while many other teams split their time between two drivers.
And as he set the fastest time, his race engineer Giampiero Lambiase could be seen smiling with satisfaction in the Red Bull garage.
Things like fuel load, road conditions, time of day, tires and power unit settings can skew competitiveness in testing as teams try to hone their cars ahead of the first race.
The season opener will be held on March 2 at the Bahrain International Circuit, the same venue that will host this week's three-day test.
Those who ran Wednesday's first session, where the track conditions were hotter and slower, were immediately at a disadvantage in terms of lap times.
Ferrari's Charles Leclerc and Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso, who were second and third behind Verstappen at the lunch break, still finished seventh and eighth overall despite giving up their cars to their teammates during the lunch break. Finished the day.
However, Verstappen showed almost as much strength in the morning as he showed in the afternoon. Leclerc was 0.8 seconds off the pace, with Alonso a further 0.1 seconds off the pace.
Sainz was just 0.015 seconds behind Daniel Ricciardo, who drives for Red Bull's second team (now known as RB). Alpine's Pierre Gasly was fifth, followed by Aston Martin's Lance Stroll.
Mercedes, with George Russell stuck in 12th, spent the first session making major set-up changes, including to the floor, and the second session went for longer runs on harder tires, avoiding the single-lap run completed by many of their rivals. . . Lewis Hamilton did not drive on Wednesday.
It was a difficult day for Williams. Their car was the last to hit the track for the first shakedown test and only ran the day before the test started while all other teams had been out by then.
Logan Sargent was 11th but only completed 21 laps after a spin at Turn 9 before a driveshaft issue ended his run.
Teammate Alex Albon, who drove the first session, completed 40 laps but stopped early due to a fuel pump failure.
1. Max Verstappen (Red Bull) – 1 minute 31.344 seconds
2. Lando Norris (McLaren) – 1:32.484
3. Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) – 1:32.584
4. Daniel Ricardo (RB) – 1:32.599
5. Pierre Gasly (Alpine) – 1:32.805
6. Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) – 1:33.007
7. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) – 1:33.247*
8. Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) – 1:33.385*
9. Oscar Piastri (McLaren) – 1:33.658*
10. Zhou Guanyu (Sauber) -1:33.871
11. Logan Sargent (Williams) – 1:33.882
12. George Russell (Mercedes) – 1:34.109
13. Yuki Tsunoda (RB) – 1:34.136*
14. Valtteri Bottas (Sauber) – 1:34.431*
15. Alex Albon (Williams) – 1:34.587
16. Esteban Ocon (Alpine) – 134.677*
17. Kevin Magnussen (Haas) – 1:35.692*
18. Nico Hulkenberg (Haas) – 1:35.906
- * = Time set for morning session.Other times are afternoon/evening
- Albon set the time on C4 tyres, Russell on C2 and Ocon on C1. Everything else is on his C3. C5 is the softest and C1 is the hardest.
