Red Bull’s Max Verstappen sets fastest time in first day of F1 pre-season testing

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen sets fastest time in first day of F1 pre-season testing at BIC

Max Verstappen set the fastest time today on the first day of Formula 1 Aramco Pre-season Testing 2021 at Bahrain Internationl Circuit (BIC) in Sakhir.

The Red Bull Racing ace clocked a fastest time of one minute 30.674 seconds under the state-of-the-art floodlights at “The Home of Motorsport in the Middle East” in sandy and hazy conditions throughout the day’s four-hour afternoon session.

McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo had topped the timesheet in the morning session with a best lap of 1:32.203.

Today’s test was the first time F1’s 2021 contenders were on track together. The top flight’s teams and drivers are gearing up for the start of the 2021 FIA F1 World Championship, which flags off with the Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix March 26 to 28.

Tickets to the race weekend are now available for all vaccinated or COVID-19 recovered individuals. They are on sale at bahraingp.com with a single discounted price of BD100 across stands for the three-day event.

F1 testing continues Saturday and Sunday (Editor’s note: March 13 and 14), once again from morning until the early evening. They are scheduled to begin each day at 10am and continue until 2pm. Following an hour-long break, the action resumes from 3pm to 7pm.

Verstappen’s pace-setting time came as he was behind the wheel of Red Bull’s RB16B. The Dutchman was busiest on the first day of running, ramping up a total of 139 laps around BIC’s 5.412-kilometre Grand Prix track.

Second-fastest today was Ricciardo’s teammate Lando Norris in his MCL35M. He was 0.215 seconds off Verstsappen’s mark while going for 46 laps on the day. Esteban Ocon of Alpine followed 0.472s back in his A521 challenger, completing 129 laps for the second-highest mileage.

Lance Stroll (+1.108s) in his Aston Martin AMR21 was classified fourth, Carlos Sainz (+1.245s) made his Ferrari debut in their SF21 contender in fifth, and Antonio Giovinazzi (+1.271s) was sixth for Alfa Romeo piloting his C41 car.