Verstappen heads first day by 1.1s from Norris

On the first of three testing days ahead of next week’s season opener at the same venue, Verstappen finished over a second clear of the competition after completing a mammoth 142 laps aboard his new Red Bull RB20.

The three-time world champion set the pace in the morning session and stayed on board for the remainder of the day, reclaiming the lead from McLaren’s Lando Norris around the halfway mark with a lap of 1m31.662s on Pirelli’s yellow-marked C3 tyres.

That middle-of-the-range tyre compound, which will be the softest compound for next weekend’s Bahrain Grand Prix, was used by almost all runners on their fastest lap.

As night fell over the Arabian Gulf and the Sakhir track cooled off, Verstappen used the much-improved conditions during the final half hour to knock another three tenths off and seal the top spot with a 1m31.344s lap, a second and a half faster than he was during the same session last winter.

Norris stayed second after a much-improved opening session of the new season compared to McLaren’s backfoot start last year. After taking over from team-mate Oscar Piastri, the Briton clocked 72 laps to finish 1.1s behind Verstappen with a 1m32.484s that had briefly yielded the lead.

Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, who was first out of the gates with his brand-new Ferrari SF-24 on a quiet start to the afternoon session, finished just a tenth behind Norris in third after producing his best lap around the same time as the McLaren driver.

RB’s Daniel Ricciardo produced just 51 laps, but his best effort was good enough for fourth, a mere 0.015s behind Sainz.

Fellow afternoon runners Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) and Pierre Gasly (Alpine) were next up in fifth and sixth respectively, followed by the second Ferrari of Charles Leclerc, who was the fastest of the morning runners behind Verstappen.

Aston’s Fernando Alonso, McLaren man Piastri and Sauber’s Zhou Guanyu rounded out the top 10.

Logan Sargeant in 11th was limited to just 21 laps after a low-key start for Williams. At the end of the morning session, Alex Albon caused the only incident by grinding to a halt due to a fuel pump issue, which delayed Sargeant’s debut in the new FW46.

Alex Albon, Williams FW46, gets out of his car after coming to a standstill

Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images

The American then suffered a wild spin through the challenging Turn 9-10 double left-hander, after which he disappeared in the garage for a suspected driveshaft problem.

Behind him, Mercedes man George Russell was on the opposite end of the lap chart as the only other driver than Verstappen to go through a full day of running. After 121 laps Russell’s best lap was a 1m34.109s.

The second RB of Yuki Tsunoda was 13th after the Japanese’s morning runs, followed by Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas, Albon and the second Alpine of Esteban Ocon.

In line with their muted pre-season expectations, Haas duo Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg finished at the bottom of the timesheets, even if Wednesday’s times are completely meaningless.

Lewis Hamilton and Sergio Perez were the only two drivers not to take to the track on day one, instead making their 2024 testing debuts on Thursday.