Charles Leclerc has continued to set the pace on the first day of pre-season testing in Bahrain, with the Ferrari driver's morning time remaining unchallenged at the top of the times halfway through the afternoon session. Leclerc set a 1:34.531 on the Medium C3 tyre in the morning to finish the session fastest. Williams' Alex Albon, who was second at the lunch break, improved his time to a 1:35.070 on the Soft C4 compound and held position. Sebastian Vettel, third at the end of the morning session, also remains where he was after setting a 1:35.706 on the Medium C3 tyre. The session was briefly stopped early in the afternoon with a red flag. This was due to some debris on the penultimate straight, which was shed from an aero rake fitted to Lance Stroll's Aston Martin. There were also some issues for McLaren's Lando Norris, whose MCL36 spent a large amount of time in the early afternoon sitting in the garage, only re-emerging just before the two-hour mark.
Haas join the action after freight delays
After Haas encountered logistical issues in getting their VF-22 to Bahrain on time, the American-led team managed to join in the action early on in the afternoon. Having only lost out on the morning session, Pietro Fittipaldi headed out on track and put in 17 laps over the course of the first two hours of the afternoon. Elsewhere, the striking new Mercedes W13, which raised eyebrows up and down the pit lane after rolling out on track on Thursday morning with extremely slimline sidepods, holds seventh and eighth on the timing screen. Lewis Hamilton logged a 1:36.365 in the morning, while George Russell's fastest time of the afternoon is a 1:36.553. The W13 spent some time in the pits early in the afternoon, with the Mercedes garage also encountering a power cut. You can stay up to date with all the action from Bahrain in the dedicated RacingNews365.com live blog .
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