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Bahrain F1 testing: Verstappen edges Alonso to stay in charge on Day 1

Red Bull's Max Verstappen ended the first day of 2023 pre-season testing in Bahrain on top of the timesheets, setting a benchmark time of 1:32.837s after completing 156 trouble-free laps on Thursday, almost three full race distances.

Verstappen was the only driver to stay in the cockpit all day, meaning that none of the others taking part managed to follow him past the 100 lap milestone. It was the first public appearance of the RB19, featuring dramatic undercuts on the sidepods to direct the airflow to the rear,

The reigning world champion had also been quickest of anyone before lunch with his time of 1:32.959s putting him ahead of Ferrari's Carlos Sainz.

Bahrain Pre-Season Test - Day 1 final

Pos	Driver	Team	Time	Tyre	Laps
1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	1:32.837s	C3	157
2	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin	+ 0.029s	C3	60
3	Carlos Sainz	Ferrari	+ 0.416s	C3	72
4	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	+ 0.430s	C3	63
5	Lando Norris	McLaren	+ 0.625s	C3	40
6	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	+ 0.671s	C3	83
7	Alexander Albon	Williams	+ 0.834s	C5	74
8	Zhou Guanyu	Alfa Romeo	+ 0.886s	C3	67
9	George Russell	Mercedes	+ 1.337s	C3	69
10	Logan Sargeant	Williams	+ 1.487s	C3	75
11	Nico Hulkenberg	Haas	+ 1.587s	C3	51
12	Valtteri Bottas	Alfa Romeo	+ 1.721s	C3	71
13	Nyck de Vries	AlphaTauri	+ 1.722s	C3	85
14	Felipe Drugovich	Aston Martin	+ 1.727s	C3	40
15	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri	+ 1.834s	C3	46
16	Pierre Gasly	Alpine	+ 1.985s	C3	60
17	Esteban Ocon	Alpine	+ 2.034s	C3	53
18	Oscar Piastri	McLaren	+ 2.051s	C3	52
19	Kevin Magnussen	Haas	+ 2.250s	C3	57

After the break he managed to reduce his time by just over a tenth. It kept him ahead of a late challenge from Fernando Alonso, despite the Spaniard missing out on track time when the team had to repair some floor damage on the Aston Martin.

Alonso's fastest time came much later in the day than Verstappen's with conditions much more favourable for flying laps, but it was an encouraging start for the two-time champion with his new team.

Sainz' earlier effort remained good enough to keep him in third place in the day's final timesheets, just ahead of his team mate Charles Leclerc who had taken over in the SF-23 for the afternoon.

"It's very early stages but the first feeling was good," said new team principal Frederic Vasseur. The most important thing was to do mileage, and we had no issues. We were able to do the run plan and everything is going well."

Fifth fastest was McLaren's Lando Norris, despite the British driver missing out on track time as the team hunted down technical problems with the MCL60's air deflectors over the front wheels that had to be reinforced.

As a result Norris managed only 40 laps, the lowest of the day - a total shared with Felipe Drugovich who suffered an electrical problem on the Aston Martin early in the day.

In total the 19 drivers completed 1275 laps of Bahrain International Circuit on Thursday.

Lewis Hamilton returned to driving duty with the sixth quickest time of the day of 1:33.508s, after completing 83 laps during the afternoon and evening session, which included over an hour of night time running under the floodlights.

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff was relieved that this year's first day of testing was much better than last year, when major problems with the car's performance prefigured a hugely disappointing season.

Hamilton's time put him just ahead of Alex Albon, although the Williams driver was alone in setting his fastest lap on the soft C5 rubber while everyone else stuck with the medium C3 for their flying laps.

Alfa Romeo's Zhou Guanyu was eighth, four tenths ahead of George Russell who had been in charge of the Mercedes W14 early in the day.

Rookie driver Logan Sargeant was tenth quickest just ahead of Nico Hulkenberg, returning to the sport this year with Haas. Another rookie, Nyck de Vries, was 13th behind the wheel of the AlphaTauri.

After Drugovich was Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri), Pierre Gasly (Alpine), Esteban Ocon (Alpine), with Oscar Piastri 18th for McLaren and Kevin Magnussen slowest of those taking part in 19th for Haas.

Testing resumes tomorrow and will conclude on Saturday, with the first race of the 2023 season scheduled for next weekend on Sunday, March 5.

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.