Formula 1 Pre-Season Test
F1 testing results: Max Verstappen tops opening day of 2024 pre-season
Max Verstappen led the opening day of Formula 1 2024 testing in Bahrain for Red Bull, beating the opposition by over a second.
Charles Bradley
Edited: Feb 21, 2024, 9:00 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Verstappen set the pace at Bahrain International Circuit in the first of three days of testing, ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz of Ferrari.
2024 Bahrain F1 test, Day 1 results:
Pos Driver Team Time Gap Laps Tyres 1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:31.344s 142 C3 2 Lando Norris Mclaren 1:32.484s +1.140s 72 C3 3 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:32.584s +1.240s 69 C3 4 Daniel Ricciardo RB 1:32.599s +1.255s 51 C3 5 Pierre Gasly Alpine 1:32.805s +1.461s 60 C3 6 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1:33.007s +1.663s 53 C3 7 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:33.247s +1.903s 64 C3 8 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin 1:33.385s +2.041s 77 C3 9 Oscar Piastri Mclaren 1:33.658s +2.314s 57 C3 10 Zhou Guanyu Sauber 1:33.871s +2.527s 62 C3 11 Logan Sargeant Williams 1:33.882s +2.538s 21 C3 12 George Russell Mercedes 1:34.109s +2.765s 121 C2 13 Yuki Tsunoda RB 1:34.136s +2.792s 64 C3 14 Valtteri Bottas Sauber 1:34.431s +3.087s 68 C3 15 Alexander Albon Williams 1:34.587s +3.243s 40 C4 16 Esteban Ocon Alpine 1:34.677s +3.333s 60 C1 17 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1:35.692s +4.348s 66 C3 18 Nico Hulkenberg Haas 1:35.906s +4.562s 82 C3
Read Also:
What happened in Bahrain F1 testing, Day 1?
Running the C3 tyre in the Pirelli range, which will be the soft compound in next weekend’s season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix, Verstappen lapped in 1m31.344s. That was 1.14s clear of Norris, with Sainz a further tenth behind.
Daniel Ricciardo was fourth fastest for Red Bull’s second squad, AlphaTauri now rebranded as RB, ahead of Alpine’s Pierre Gasly and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll.
Charles Leclerc ran in the morning session, and his time held for the seventh fastest time for Ferrari, ahead of Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin.
Oscar Piastri (McLaren) and Zhou Guanyu (Sauber) rounded out the top 10.
Verstappen and George Russell (who was 12th quickest for Mercedes) were the only drivers who stayed in their cars for the whole day, whereas the other teams switched at lunchtime.
Verstappen also completed the most laps, getting 142 under his belt.
Read Also:
Formula 1Red Bull's sidepod intricacies begin to emerge in Bahrain F1 test
Formula 1Why the legality of Mercedes' trick F1 front wing wasn't in real doubt
What happened in Bahrain F1 testing’s morning session?
Verstappen had topped the morning session with a lap of 1m32.548s, seven tenths ahead of Leclerc and Alonso.
Alex Albon hit trouble when he stopped on the exit of Turn 2 after his Williams lost power going down the main straight with just 20 minutes to go in the morning session. Albon's FW46 initially cut out and then failed to re-fire.
Esteban Ocon skated over the gravel trap at Turn 4 after catching a snap of oversteer in his Alpine, while Kevin Magnussen was slightly hampered by a loose aero rake and then a suspected fuel system issue which his Haas F1 Team was able to fix.
2024 Bahrain F1 test, morning session results:
Pos Driver Team Time Gap Laps 1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:32.548 66 2 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:33.247 +0.699s 64 3 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin 1:33.385 +0.837s 77 4 Oscar Piastri Mclaren 1:33.658 +1.110s 57 5 Yuki Tsunoda RB 1:34.136 +1.588s 64 6 George Russell Mercedes 1:34.230 +1.682s 48 7 Valtteri Bottas Sauber 1:34.431 +1.883s 68 8 Alexander Albon Williams 1:34.587 +2.039s 40 9 Esteban Ocon Alpine 1:34.677 +2.129s 60 10 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1:35.692 +3.144s 66
Read Also:
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article 2024 Bahrain F1 test: Verstappen heads first day by 1.1s from Norris
Next article Russell: New Mercedes F1 car already ‘feels nicer’ to drive
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Charles Bradley
Mika Hakkinen on his darkest day in F1
Formula 1
Formula 1 1 y
Mika Hakkinen on his darkest day in F1
Dillon: Spotter was “wrong” to shout “wreck him!” before Hamlin clash
NASCAR Cup
NASCAR Cup
Richmond II
Aug 13, 2024
Dillon: Spotter was “wrong” to shout “wreck him!” before Hamlin clash
Hamlin: NASCAR stripping Dillon of win would be “warranted”
NASCAR Cup
NASCAR Cup
Richmond II
Aug 12, 2024
Hamlin: NASCAR stripping Dillon of win would be “warranted”
More from
Max Verstappen
F1 driver contracts: How long is each driver tied down for?
Formula 1
Formula 1 4 h
F1 driver contracts: How long is each driver tied down for?
Max Verstappen on Ferrari clashes: "I would never sign two number-one drivers"
Formula 1
Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
1 d
Max Verstappen on Ferrari clashes: "I would never sign two number-one drivers"
More from
Ferrari
What the Brazilian GP revealed about F1's ability to cope with rain
Formula 1
Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
2 d
What the Brazilian GP revealed about F1's ability to cope with rain
F1 2026 calendar update: Imola GP off the table, no plan B if war escalates
Formula 1
Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
2 d
F1 2026 calendar update: Imola GP off the table, no plan B if war escalates
Latest news
Sebastien Bourdais hopes latest WEC success will remind teams of his value
WEC
WEC WEC
Monza
50 min
Sebastien Bourdais hopes latest WEC success will remind teams of his value
"It's horribly painful" - Williams drops 2026 car upgrades to benefit 2027
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
1 h
"It's horribly painful" - Williams drops 2026 car upgrades to benefit 2027
Iker Lecuona felt significant differences between Ducati's GP25 and GP26
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Qatar GP
3 h
Iker Lecuona felt significant differences between Ducati's GP25 and GP26
Feature
Discover prime content
Top 10 F1 cars of the 1970s
Formula 1
By Kevin Turner
Top 10 F1 cars of the 1970s
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe