Pierre Gasly Beats High-Flying Ferrari F1 Pair to Lead Day 1 of Second F1 Testing in Bahrain

AlphaTauri began their second F1 pre-season testing on a flier as Pierre Gasly secured the fastest lap time of the day with a 1:33:9 and further became one of the few drivers to hit the three-figure mark in terms of laps completed.

Following the Frenchman were Ferrari, who, too had an extremely positive day with both Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz finishing in the top 3.

How the Morning session unfolded

Charles Leclerc topped the timesheets and it no longer seems to surprise anyone; Ferrari have been at the top of their game ever since day 1 at Barcelona. And now, they’ve managed to replicate their success in Bahrain as well. The Monegasque secured the fastest lap with a 1m 35.531s and managed to do so very early on in the day.

From thereon, his name remained etched right on the top of the timesheets. Behind the Ferrari was the returning Williams driver, Alex Albon as the Thai-Briton found himself only 0.54s slower than the leader. However, unlike Leclerc, Albon’s lap time arrived quite late in the day, barely 30 minutes away from the chequered flag.

And until that point, it was Lewis Hamilton who was instead holding onto the position ahead of Sebastian Vettel and Sergio Perez. Well, nonetheless, the late mix-up led the four-time world champion to claim P3 ahead of Perez who managed to complete a total of 70 laps.

This left Hamilton in P5 with a car that ended up being the center of attraction this morning. Esteban Ocon clinched P6 ahead of Haas, the only team that failed to get any running in the morning after a logistical issue citing the delayed freight arrival.

Watch Story: When F1 Drivers Had a Blast on Top Gear Featuring Hamilton, Vettel & Ricciardo

How the afternoon F1 session unfolded

After clocking around 70 laps in the morning, Perez continued to push throughout the afternoon to finally end the day with a whopping 140 laps; the highest of the day. His Red Bull predecessor, Alex Albon, completed 104 laps in the Williams while the table-topper, Gasly, completed two lesser laps compared to the Thai-Briton.

On the other hand, Fernando Alonso ended up with the least number of laps in hand – 24 in total. Nevertheless, the Alpine driver had a rather decent outing on the track, showing signs of recovery from the early blues in Barcelona.

Overall, while Gasly topped the list, Ferrari, too, continued to fuel the ever-growing hype of them potentially challenging the defending champions, Mercedes, for the title this year. So, will the trend continue throughout days 2 and 3? We’ll know soon enough!

Read More: Which Country Has The Most F1 Championships?