2022 Formula 1 Bahrain March testing
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F1 Bahrain pre-season test - Day 1
Minute by minute updates on the opening day of the 2022 Bahrain F1 pre-season test
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The timing screen is being lit up by green and purple mini sectors by Leclerc and Perez - which means personal best and overall best times - but neither string a full lap together to improve on their respective lap times.
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Ross Brawn is chatting to Will Buxton on the F1 test TV coverage to assess the new cars under the new rules and had this to say: "There are some very extreme interpretations of the regulations which could lead to a lot of debate. We did not anticipate the Mercedes concept."
Albon, who had the freedom of the Bahrain circuit on his own, is joined by Norris and Gasly with a little over 90 minutes to go until the lunch break.
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Ocon is the latest to lock-up at Turn 1 and then his Alpine car bottoms out through Turn 3.
Zhou has come into the pits and stopped in the pitlane but just outside the Mercedes garage. He hasn't got lost, it looks enforced as the Alfa Romeo mechanics come jogging to his rescue.
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Zhou has a messy lap but still improves on his personal best with a 1m37.164s to go fifth. The Alfa Romeo driver locked up at Turn 10 before the rear steps out exiting Turn 11. Slippery out there.
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Ocon improves by a shade with a 1m37.198s on the C2 tyres to go fifth.
Trackside update
Porpoising was the hot topic in Spain, and I think I can twist another marine-based analogy here in Bahrain. The Mercedes W13, from the rear three-quarter angle, with its dramatic new sidepod treatment, resembles a cuttlefish to my eye. How dramatically the sculpted bodywork falls down and out into the rippling floor… or perhaps I’m dehydrated already.
Anyway, back to the F1 testing action and Leclerc has a big lock-up at Turn 1 to take a chunk off the top of his front tyres. He is all OK to continue before pitting at the end of the lap.
Thanks Jake, I'm on the instant coffee and feel infinitely inferior in the hot drinks stakes.
Haydn Cobb is now going to take over commentary duties for the next hour, while I make a pot of coffee. If you don't own a Hario V60, buy one: it'll change your life. See you a bit later on!
Leclerc just got very very sideways through 10! Big slide, caught well - good job sir!
We're coming to the end of the second hour, and here's things as they stand:
- Leclerc, Ferrari, 1m34.531s, C3 - 25 laps
- Hamilton, Mercedes, 1m36.365s, C3 - 30
- Perez, Red Bull, 1m36.581s, C2 prototype - 30
- Vettel, Aston Martin, 1m36.637s, C2 - 21
- Norris, McLaren, 1m37.580s, C4 - 8
- Albon, Williams, 1m.37.794s, C2 prototype - 21
- Ocon, Alpine, 1m37.852s, C2 prototype - 11
- Zhou, Alfa Romeo, 1m38.675s, C3 - 30
- Gasly, AlphaTauri, 1m40.366s, C4 - 19
Vettel snatches his front left into Turn 10 - par for the course. We might see that more with these cars, and we get it when the inside tyre is unloaded.
"Leclerc really seems to be pushing in recent laps, attacking the corner quite a bit. Always a tricky one to get right - it’s more downhill than it looks on TV. As I say that, Zhou has a lock up right in front of me!"
What's interesting about the Merc sidepods is that, with the reduced interaction with tyre wake, they've put a set of vortex generators on the impact spar (the bit the mirrors are on) to clean up that turbulent flow.
That's P2 for Hamilton now, posting a 1m36.365s on the C3 to leapfrog Perez.
So that lap puts Leclerc 2s clear of Perez - but for comparison, last year's pole time at Bahrain was a 1m28.997s, so they're not really pushing at this point.
Stopwatch
Ol' Chuckles joins the 20 lap club, and now extends his advantage at the top with a 1m34.531s - with the C3 tyre.
Sergio Perez is now the most-lapped driver so far with 27, ahead of Zhou on 25. Hamilton has 23, and Albon has 20.
I wish someone would Deliveroo me some more coffee. First thing you should know about people working in motorsport: we thrive on caffeine. Or we depend upon it.
Norris is up to P4 now, circulating on the C4 compound. He's still yet to reach a double-figure lap-count, sitting on eight tours of the Bahrain circuit this morning.
Albon navigates Turn 10 perfectly this time around after snatching a wheel on the previous lap. The braking zone around Turn 9 always causes multiple problems there, and we've seen many off-moments there through the years.
Perez is now P2, with a 1m36.581s - still half a second off the pace from Leclerc, albeit with a tyre difference.
Hamilton and Vettel have a little bit of a battle, which results in Hamilton snatching a braking point and going a little deep into Turn 10. He remains ahead, however.
Vettel returns to the circuit on the C2 tyres; Albon moves up to second overall on the prototype tyres, but Vettel hustles his Aston Martin to depose the Williams from the runner-up spot.
Encouragingly for Alfa Romeo, who had limited running in Barcelona, Zhou's up to 22 laps. He's now on a 1m38.675s, still on the C3s.
Ocon's continuing to circulate on the unmarked tyre - those are Pirelli's C2 prototype tyres as they assess other constructions. He's on 11 laps now - Hamilton and Zhou have the most with 20 laps.
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Zhou's back out on track - here's a look at the new Alfa Romeo livery:
Ocon moves up to P2, still almost 2s off Leclerc's best lap.
There's some strengthening cables now on the Mercedes to support the floor - perhaps trying to reduce flex and minimise the porpoising effect on the straights.
Gasly improves to P5 with a lap in the 1m40s, as Albon returns to the pits with a hot seat. Leclerc's back out too.
Here's the order after the first hour:
- Leclerc, Ferrari, 1m35.953s, C4 - 6 laps
- Vettel, Aston Martin, 1m37.945s, C2 - 7
- Perez, Red Bull, 1m37.950s, C2 prototype - 9
- Zhou, Alfa Romeo, 1m39.290s, C3 - 4
- Hamilton, Mercedes, 1m40.605s, C2 - 14
- Gasly, AlphaTauri, 1m43.070s, C4 - 11
- Ocon, Alpine, No time, C2 - 1
- Albon, Williams, No time, C4 - 4
- Norris, McLaren, No time, C4 - 2
Alex Albon heads out as soon as I hit send on the last post, as does Gasly. Thanks guys.
All's quiet on the track once more as we head towards the end of the first hour of running. Teams assess the data from the first batch of runs, conduct setup changes, and prepare for another go.
So let's talk Mercedes sidepods: what are the advantages and disadvantages? It gives the team a smaller cross-sectional area, cutting drag and helping to give the floor a boost - but they lose the interaction between the corner of the sidepod working with the tyre wake.
Norris is out on the road, with the track to himself in his marginally re-liveried McLaren. It's got a touch more black to offset the orange a little bit, as he carries out a sniff of aero work.
The returning Kevin Magnussen gets a re-induction tour around the Haas garage. He's been away in the US for a year, racing in IMSA for Chip Ganassi Racing - with an IndyCar outing at Road America with Arrow McLaren SP.
By: Haydn Cobb
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