George Russell tops first day of Bahrain second test

Mercedes’ George Russell topped the timing boards after the first day of Bahrain’s second week of pre-season testing concluded. 

Feature image credit: Mercedes F1

Bahrain’s International Circuit once again became home to the third and final test of Formula 1’s pre-season testing, following one week of shakedown in Barcelona and testing in Bahrain last week. 

At the end of the first day of testing back in Bahrain, Russell was the fastest driver out on track with a lap time of 1m 33.459s.

The Briton was the third driver to take over at the top following the morning session, led by Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. 

The Monegasque’s time held up well going into the afternoon session for nearly two hours. Just as the session crossed into the halfway mark, McLaren’s Oscar Piastri took top honours, but Russell would eventually take the top spot. 

FIA introduce proposal on test to tackle power unit issue

The majority of the sport’s 22 drivers were out on track today, except for four-time world champion Max Verstappen, who left the Red Bull RB22 to be piloted by his teammate Isack Hadjar. 

However, the Frenchman had problems in the morning after the team completed work on their challenger. 

One hour into the afternoon session, Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll brought out the red flag after the Canadian beached his AMR26 in the gravel at turn 11. Onboards showed that the Aston Martin driver had lost the rear at the end of the T10-T11 straight as he entered the corner. 

At the end of the session, the sport conducted some starting procedures, which had been a hot topic in recent days. However, on the race start, after a ‘formation lap’ and an additional lap, all of the cars on the grid seemed to get away together, despite some wheelspin at the start.

Testing will resume for the penultimate day of testing tomorrow, at 10am local time (7am GMT).

FIA confirm no changes to race procedures for now

Read more Formula 1 here:

• Oscar Piastri pips Leclerc to fastest time in afternoon of Day 1 test 
• Charles Leclerc tops morning test on Day 1 in Bahrain
• F1 confirms circuit extension with calendar rotation
• Russell sets the pace after first hour of testing day 3
• Leclerc fastest after day 2 of Bahrain pre-season test

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Kamron Kent

Hi, I’m Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion.

I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I’ve loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.

Kamron Kent

Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.