At the start of the Formula 1 winter tests in Bahrain , the program of all ten teams was disrupted by a sandstorm . At Mercedes and Haas, there were also transmission problems in the morning. The first personal best of the year was Max Verstappen .

 

The fans waited three months for the Formula 1 engines to come back to life. On Friday (March 12th) the time had finally come in Bahrain . At 10 a.m. local time, the traffic light at the end of the pit lane turned green, giving the starting signal for three days of winter tests at summer temperatures of up to 35 ° C.

 

By moving the test drives to Bahrain , those responsible had actually expected weather security. But as far as the external conditions are concerned, you are not immune to surprises even in the stable desert climate. During the lunch break, a persistent sandstorm hit the Sakhir region, covering the 5.412-kilometer-long runway with a slippery layer of dust.

 

Time chase under floodlights

 

It took some valuable test hours before the ideal line was finally driven cleanly again and the engineers were able to collect usable data. Only in the evening, when the floodlights artificially illuminated the track, did the track again offer the necessary grip for fast lap times.

 

Max Verstappen did not take long to ask. One hour before the final whistle, the Dutchman lapped the Grand Prix track on medium tires (C3) in 1: 30.674 minutes. That was enough for the best time of the day. Lando Norris , who ended up in second place, was only two tenths short of the specification of his Red Bull buddy. Alpine also got off to a successful start in the winter tests. Esteban Ocon raced for bronze, four tenths behind. The slightly softer C4 mixture turned on his car .

 

The rest of the field was more than a second behind the leaders. However, we have to note at this point that the time hunt so early in the test week was not at the top of any team's priority list. If you then add the slippery conditions, the significance of the sequence and the distances is more than limited.

 

Transmission problems at Mercedes

 

Looking at the odometer is more interesting. With Red Bull , Alfa Romeo , Alpine, Ferrari and Alpha Tauri, only half of the teams made it over the magical 100 lap mark. The fastest driver was also the hardest working in the end. Max Verstappen completed 139 laps alone - that is, over two race distances. No other car did more than the Red Bull .

 

You could only dream of that at Mercedes on Friday. Valtteri Bottas had to park his brand new AMG W12 in the garage for repairs in the morning after the first round of installation. The gearbox had gone on strike and needed to be replaced. Here, the fact that Mercedes waived the usual shakedown in the run-up to the test drives this season took revenge .

 

"The problem came out of nowhere. We are a little worried that we have not yet found the exact reason for it," said team boss Toto Wolff, contrite for the record. The Mercedes was only operational again shortly before lunch . In the afternoon, Lewis Hamilton only made 42 laps because of the sandstorm break. That was far from what one was used to from the world championship team in recent years.

 

Schumacher only with 15 rounds

 

The Haas team also made a similar false start . An hour and a half before kick-off, Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin pulled the cloth from the new VF-21 with a lot of confidence. But the joy didn't last long. After only seven laps, the fun for Schumacher was over again. A hydraulic problem made it necessary to change the gearbox. Shortly before the break, there were eight more laps for the rookie before he had to hand over his sports equipment to teammate Nikita Mazepin .

 

"It was of course interesting and was fun. Unfortunately we could only do a few laps at the beginning, then we had to change some things in the garage, which simply took time," complained the rookie. Schumacher used the break to watch the engineers watching the competition.

 

With Sebastian Vettel , a second German pilot was also in action. And here, too, not everything went according to plan. One hour before lunch, the Heppenheimer's Aston Martin suddenly stopped at the pit exit. The engine had died. But the problem was resolved relatively quickly, which meant that Vettel had 51 laps before team-mate Lance Stroll took over the wheel in the afternoon. Aston Martin then struggled with the electrics.

 

At Vettel's ex-team, the two regular drivers also shared the first day of the test without being particularly positive. Ten minutes before the break, Charles Leclerc rolled out on the track, providing the only interruption of the day. The Ferrari was quickly ready to go again in the afternoon. Apart from a remarkable spin in Turn 11, Carlos Sainz didn’t manage to do anything worth mentioning either. Ten minutes before the final whistle, the newcomer moved up to fifth place.

 

In the gallery we show you the highlights of the day again.

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