Alonso. "We will fight for races and championships in the future."
The first big flash of the preseason, amid the sandstorm that broke out over the Bahrain desert, was for Max Verstappen's Red Bull.
The Dutchman was the fastest in the first of the three official tests that will be held on the Sakhir asphalt, taking advantage of the various problems that the Mercedes suffered in the morning, with Bottas, who broke the gearbox.
In the afternoon, with Hamilton, who regretted the lack of grip on his car.
Carlos Sainz had a great debut dressed in red and parked his Ferrari in fifth position, just over a second faster than his teammate Leclerc.
This just got rolling though.
The 'Great Circus' is close to opening its doors and, in the official rehearsals, things have been seen, which has allowed a sandstorm that covered the Bahrain International Circuit in the afternoon session, interesting as seeing that Mercedes does not start from idyllic way and that there are several teams wanting to take a step forward.
Verstappen, throughout the eight hours of testing - including an hour break for lunch - was the fastest rider (with his 1: 30.674) and the one who gave the most laps of the Bahrain track, with 139. Red Bull starts strong its pulse to Mercedes.
In contrast, the 'silver arrows', which are still black, had problems.
In the morning,
Valtteri Bottas
had gearbox problems and only made six laps and, in the afternoon, the defending champion
Lewis Hamilton
complained about the lack of grip of his W12, he did only 42 laps - he was the last to leave to roll- and signed the tenth best record.
On the positive side,
Carlos Sainz
.
The Spanish driver, in his Ferrari debut and taming the new SF21 'rampant horse', finished with the fifth best time of the day, 1.2 of Verstappen but beating his teammate Charles Leclerc by more than a second.
Verstappen, during his session on the Bahrain circuit.
In between, the occasional braking pass, a spin and many laps, up to 57 laps.
The first lap dressed in red and in the official test was a 1: 37.440.
The best, a 1: 31.919 with which he placed in this 'top 5' behind Verstappen, his former teammate
Lando Norris
(McLaren), Esteban Ocon (Alpine) and Lance Stroll (Aston Martin).
His teammate
Charles Leclerc
caused, just before the midday break, the only red flag of the day by stopping his SF21 in an escape due to a problem in the car.
And if Bottas broke the gearbox of the Mercedes,
Sebastian Vettel
also had problems
in his debut with the Aston Martin, which stopped him at the exit of the pits causing a yellow flag.
The premiere of the controversial Haas
It was a day of few firm conclusions, only notes.
But it did leave anecdotes, such as the debut of Russian
Nikita Mazepin
in a Haas that wears Russian and non-American colors due to the sponsorship of the Uralkali company, partly owned by the pilot's father.
A design studied by the World Anti-Doping Agency, which has prohibited Russian athletes and pilots from piloting under the flag and anthem of their country, sanctioned for doping.
That Haas was also driven by a
Mick Schumacher
who returned his illustrious surname to an F1 grid, in these tests, waiting to finally be able to do so in an official Grand Prix.
The son of the 'kaiser' finished the penultimate day, just behind but more than a second slower than his partner Mazepin, and with only 15 laps due to problems in his car.
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