Max Verstappen ended the first day of Formula 1 pre-season testing in Bahrain top of the timesheets, despite a late surprise effort from Fernando Alonso. The Aston Martin driver put in a glory run with an hour left in the session to go second quickest and just 0.029s off the best time set by the Red Bull driver. Alonso's afternoon was interrupted after the team had to make floor repairs in the first half of the session having only completed seven laps, but got back out after an hour and a half in the garage. Verstappen looked comfortable up front after completing the day with 157 laps on the board, the Red Bull driver seemingly not running into any major issues. Carlos Sainz remained third quickset after setting his time in the morning, however teammate Charles Leclerc matched his 1:33.2 to go fourth fastest. The Ferrari appeared to still suffer from bouncing on the straights, with Leclerc struggling with the SF-23 during his runs on occasions.
Norris heads out after McLaren struggles
Lando Norris finally made an appearance on track after the earlier struggles for McLaren, which looked to be mainly around their front wheel assembly. He missed out on two hours worth of running but put in a 1:33.462 to go fifth fastest towards the end of the day, eventually completing 40 laps. Lewis Hamilton ended the day sixth quickest with an effort that was 0.671s off the best time from Verstappen.
Sargeant gets within a second of Albon, while Ocon struggles
Logan Sargeant managed to get within half a second of teammate Alex Albon, his best effort landing him 10th fastest after completing 75 laps. The American had a brief moment of glory when he made a move on Hamilton on the inside into Turn 1, the pair briefly breaking out into a race before the Mercedes driver backed off. Elsewhere Valtteri Bottas and Nyck de Vries were 12th and 13th fastest at the end of the day, with De Vries clocking up 80 tours of the Bahrain International Circuit - the second most of the day. Esteban Ocon capped off Alpine's day outside of the top ten with a time that was only 17th fastest, completing just 53 laps. With Gasly's total of 60 laps it means the team only completed 113 laps throughout the day. Kevin Magnussen rounded off the day in 19th place for Haas with 53 laps on the board.
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