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Bahrain F1 test: Ricciardo leads Hamilton on first morning

Daniel Ricciardo set the pace on the opening morning of the Bahrain in-season test on Tuesday, as his Red Bull team focused on trying to understand how to extract more speed from its car on single laps.

Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull Racing RB13

Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull Racing RB13

Motorsport Images

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1 W08
Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull Racing RB13
Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull Racing RB13
Antonio Giovinazzi, Ferrari SF70H
Antonio Giovinazzi, Ferrari SF70H
Oliver Turvey, McLaren MCL32
Marcus Ericsson, Sauber C36
Lance Stroll, Williams FW40
Romain Grosjean, Haas F1 Team VF-17
The Red Flag flies

The Australian’s programme just before the lunch break was a series of short runs, and it was on one of these that he set the best time of 1m32.349s with supersofts to knock Lewis Hamilton off the top of the timesheets.

Hamilton had bounced back from an early morning electrical problem that brought out a red flag to get on with his intense programme.

With Mercedes determined to use this week’s running to get a better understanding of tyre management, its day did not get off to the best start when Hamilton’s W08 came to a halt with an 'electrical disconnection' problem just 15 minutes into the day's running.

There was further frustration when it took track officials nearly 25 minutes to get his car back to the pits.

But with the issue quickly resolved, Hamilton was able to resume, and his best lap of 1m32.822s was 0.473s slower than Ricciardo.

Nico Hulkenberg spent the morning conducting aerodynamic testing for Renault and ended up third-fastest, with the team eager to find improvements to its car to help with its long-run pace.

Fourth-fastest was Williams’ Lance Stroll, whose main focus was on tyre management as he spent the morning experimenting with ways to better understand and manage the Pirellis.

Romain Grosjean returned to action for Haas, with the Frenchman’s main focus being on trials of new products from brake supplier Carbone Industrie, as the American team weighs up whether or not to switch from Brembo.

Testing runs until 6.10pm local time tonight thanks to a 10-minute delay to the test getting underway in the morning after shipping containers had been left in a dangerous position at the end of the pit lane.

The only other red flag of the first morning was caused by Toro Rosso’s Sean Gelael, whose car suffered a suspected engine failure after four laps. A fresh Renault power unit was fitted for the Indonesian to return to action later on.

There were also engine woes for Honda too, with McLaren development driver Oliver Turvey only able to complete two installation laps in the morning.

Honda had discovered a water leak in the ERS, which has prompted the need for a replacement power unit to be fitted.

Morning testing times:

Pos.DriverTeamTimeGapLaps
1  Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull 1m32.349s   43
2  Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m32.822s 0.473s 33
3  Nico Hulkenberg Renault 1m33.624s 1.275s 43
4  Lance Stroll Williams 1m33.729s 1.380s 35
5  Romain Grosjean Haas 1m33.848s 1.499s 40
6  Antonio Giovinazzi Ferrari 1m34.967s 2.618s 67
7  Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1m35.043s 2.694s 48
8  Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1m35.317s 2.968s 52
9  Alfonso Celis Jr Force India 1m37.661s 5.312s 21
10  Sean Gelael Toro Rosso 1m38.111s 5.672s 27
11  Oliver Turvey McLaren no time - 2

 

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