Leclerc had ensured Ferrari’s strong start to testing coඣntꦅinued as the Bahrain test got underway on Thursday morning, but the pace picked up as day turned to night, with Gasly ending up with the benchmark time after a late flurry of quick laps on Pirelli’s soft tyres. 

Gasly initially hit the top on C4s by posting a 1m34.010s, before finding a further tenth improvemenᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚt when he strapped on the softest C5 compound as he became the𓂃 first driver to dip into the 1m33s. 

In the closing stages, Carlos Sainz put🔜 his Ferrari second to best teammate Leclerc’s C3 tyre time by 0.172s, though the two laps were set amid very 𒀰different conditions. The Spaniard ultimately wound up 0.457s down on Gasly’s benchmark. 

Lance Stroll finished fourth for Aston Martin, three-tent﷽hs clear of Williams driver Alex Albon, who rounded out the top five. 

After a suspected🃏 brake issue hampered his morning programme, Lando Norris did not feature again unti𒊎l later in the day. He had several offs and wide moments, with the MCL36 looking a real handful at times. 

Valtteri Bottas racked up 66 laps for Alfa Romeo on his way to taking seventh, ahead of morning runner Sebastian Vettel, the Mercedes of George Russell and Sergio Perez, who caused a late red fl🌊ag to bring the opening day to a premature end. 

Perez beache൩d his Red Bull in the gravel after a slow-speed spin in the middle sector. It marked the second red flag of the day, following a brief suspension in the afternoon for debris when a piece of aero ra⛄ke broke off Stroll’s Aston Martin. 

Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton wa🐎s 11th-fastest after completing the morning session for Mercedes, while Fernando Alonso only managed 24 laps after taking over from Alpine teammate Esteban Ocon. 

Alonso and Stroll provided some hope that F1’s new rules w♛ill deliver better racing this year as they engaged in a great 🐠scrap in the first sector. 

Alonso initially overtook Stroll on the pit straight before the Aston Martin driver re-passed the Alpine into Turn 1, before holding off the double world champion as the🐓y ran side-by-♐side on the exit of Turn 4. 

After Haas wa𝓡s forced to miss th🌌e opening session due to freight delays, Pietro Fittipaldi managed 47 laps for the American outfit as he completed the order behind the Alpine duo and Alfa Romeo’s Guanyu Zhou. 

End of day one results from Bahrain