Recapping a busy and sand-swept day in Bahrain as F1 cars finally returned to the track for the first time in 2021 Roy Nissany finally on the board for Williams. While McLaren will be delighted with their morning showing, with Lando Norris to enter the fray in the afternoon session, Mercedes will be worried by their gearbox problem that left Bottas garage-bound. Red Bull's Max Verstappen has topped the first day of Formula 1 pre-season testing in Bahrain, as Mercedes' 2021 campaign got off to a low-key start. 2021 F1 pre-season testing day two in pictures; Live: 2021 pre-season testing day two; Honda have definitely made gains with their qualifying performance – Tsunoda; Fewest laps, least progress, but was Mercedes’ start to testing really that bad? It's Charles Leclerc in the Ferrari SF21 and it's a 1.37. Here is who will take the seat for each of the teams today in the morning and afternoon sessions respectively. Nobody out there at the moment, however. F1 testing day three live: latest updates and times from 2021 pre-season running in Bahrain 14 Mar 2021 , 3:08pm Comment: Murray Walker and James Hunt were the perfect odd-couple commentary tandem The returning Fernando Alonso is not due in the car until tomorrow. Alpine’s Esteban Ocon was the last driver within a second of Ricciardo, fourth overall. "It's very easy to say afterwards we would have done it before, but in recent years everything has been bulletproof and everything has been run in the dyno. Where does it put him? We're back, and it's been a busy first day of testing in Barcelona. Formula 1 pre-season testing got underway with some major surprises on the first of the three days at the Bahrain International Circuit. GALLERY: Top shots from Day 1 of 2021 pre-season testing in Bahrain. The screens are up in front of the garage which is not allowed unless the problem is a significant one. Ocon currently on 12 laps and in fifth place. Maybe he used the Sakhir GP outer layout? The FW43B. Just understeered clean off the road. But does not follow it up with a decent final sector. He ended the day tenth quickest. He backs off at the end of the lap to avoid the car ahead but on his next lap, with cold brakes he runs deep into turn one. Vast majority of the running has been done on hard tyres with only Raikkonen, Nissany and Vettel running on anything different. F1 Testing – Here’s the full scheduled driver line-up for the opening day of pre-season testing 2021 at the Bahrain International Circuit. With such limited running before the first race this is pretty troubling for some of the drivers. Mercedes on just 33, Haas now at 50, on the other end of the scale. The Mercedes is looking close to going back out again and it sounds like they are firing up the Haas as well, though Mick Schumacher does not yet have his helmet on. Giovinazzi, meanwhile, moves back up to fourth with a 1.32.415. In 2020 they finished sixth in the overall standings and were the sixth quickest on raw pace, too. my team-by-team guide to the 2021 season here. Max Verstappen ended day one of Formula One's pre-season test fastest of all, as Mercedes hit problems on the first morning. Norris, Stroll, Hamilton and Sainz – who all take over from their team-mates this afternoon – have yet to come out this session. Here's what he had to say after this morning's running. Good to see. He hands over to team mate Nikita Mazepin for the afternoon. And the Alpine A521 (not named after a road in Staffordshire) has taken that concept and really run with it. AlphaTauri are about to pass it, too. Not sure if Mercedes will re-assess how much time Bottas runs on days two and three. If you want to know more of what I think of Haas's prospects you can read my team-by-team guide to the 2021 season here. Pre-season testing can feel a bit like an anti-climax at the end of it all, partly due to the limited nature of what we learn compared to the first race of the year. Sounded a bit ropey down the pit straight and then never really got going again towards turn four and he pulls over at the most sensible spot at the end of the straight. Last year we had two tests of three days each but this year that has been halved. Tyre-wise we are still predominantly hard. Anything less than that – and we will know pretty soon – they could be even more furrowed brows in Maranello. Would suggest that they are, if not sandbagging, not really concerned with headline lap times in any way. First day of testing last year every team had more than 100 laps. Decent lap, goes second by 0.2s or so on the medium tyres, the same compound with which Verstappen set his quickest time. On the medium tyres he goes eighth with a 1.36.096. Verstappen leads the way. On the soft tyres and 0.214s off Verstappen's time. Watch all of F1 2021 Testing Live on F1 TV - http://f1.com/F1TVLiveDay two of Testing in Bahrain! None of that now. Ferrari and Alfa Romeo have also passed 100 laps for the day. 20 laps for the day done for him as Vettel returns to the track. You may have your own opinion, but I also have mine and I put it into words and tried to justify it all. Decent. Maybe give him another couple of hours, somewhere. That was on the medium tyres, however. Driver Schedule (Day 1 – Friday) Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN: Kimi Raikkonen (AM) / Antonio Giovinazzi (PM) One man who is not delayed is another rookie, Japanese Yuki Tsuonda, who is out now in the AlphaTauri. What does Sainz do in the Ferrari? He had a tough first season back in F1 in 2020, taking a little while to get going and to re-find his feet. He tells us – and we can hear it ourselves, too – that Tsunoda is barely on the throttle in turn two, almost as if the conditions are damp. I wrote this piece which goes through his career to date and his chances of success at Haas and in F1. I wrote this piece which goes through his career to date and his chances of success at Haas and in F1. That's the same as Verstappen. Morning report: Mercedes hit gearbox trouble on Day 1 of testing as Ricciardo puts McLaren fastest. Not sure how keen teams would be to get their cars out at the moment. You can read by full team-by-team guide here. Just Leclerc and Gasly out there at the moment. Perhaps a single espresso? They have spent time redeveloping their power unit as well as the rear end. He improves his time but not position, staying second. So track time is important. The location has been moved, too, with Bahrain hosting the action as opposed to the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. See the full testing line-up for day two in Bahrain below, and be sure to follow live coverage here, watch live on F1 TV, and stay tuned to F1.com for the latest news, reports and reaction. Doesn't look like Stroll set a lap time on those softs as he ducks into the pits meaning it was just an out and then an in lap. But the Virtual Safety Car remains. Green... and burgundy at the back. Indeed he does by 1.280s. 0.7s off Verstappen's best time. Sure, it's only testing and the season only finished in the middle of December but, given the last 12 months we have had, we cannot complain. With 173 laps around Barcelona. But I have to say the black halo looks so much better than one that matches the livery. Although the usual caveat comes that winter testing times are only a vague guide at best, it will be the performance of defending champions Mercedes that will catch the most attention. Meanwhile, problems for Mercedes as Bottas gets out of the car just as they were about to start running. They did grab a couple of podiums, though. Mazepin also out for Haas. That's lunch for the drivers and we will be back in an hour for the afternoon session, which lasts for another four hours. Bringing out the yellow flags. Last year every team did 100 laps (though over a shorter distance) at the end of day one, so that is much of a muchness for nine of the teams. by Thomas Maher. Very much like the look of the new Williams. Ocon out on track with a new helmet which appears to feature the Eiffel Tower on the top. With a 1.32.525, 0.012s ahead of Ricciardo. ...is a 1.36.850 which puts him ninth. I do wonder how much real action we will see this afternoon. In the final hour of the afternoon, Verstappen clocked a time of 1m30.674s with medium tyres on … F1 pre-season testing - 17 drivers to feature on day one. Mick Schumacher was first up behind the wheel of the Uralkali Haas F1 Team VF-21 on the opening day of Formula 1 pre-season testing Friday at the Bahrain International Circuit. Track temperatures are good and the vast majority of teams come out for their installation laps. Action gets underway at 7am GMT and we will be here to guide you through it all today, as well as on Saturday and Sunday. Mercedes were the only team not to run a pre-test shakedown of their car ahead of Friday's first day of running of a total of three. He gets very twitchy in the final corner approaching his first proper, timed lap of this run. Just the single lap for them so far this morning, the fewest of any team. In tremendous amounts of sand and wind. Hmmm. Find out more, The Telegraph values your comments but kindly requests all posts are on topic, constructive and respectful. Had the Bahrain Grand Prix and the Sakhir Grand Prix at this circuit (though different layouts) and will return here for the first race of the season in two weeks' time. Darker, windier and sandier. RED FLAG Charles Leclerc has stopped at Turn 4 #F1 #F1Testing @ScuderiaFerrari pic.twitter.com/j6ndQnwe3N. It did happen in the final five minutes of the first session, though we assumed that was because Leclerc stopped. Current lap count by team, so far, with approx 2h30 remaining. The cars are expected to have lost some lap time with the changes to the aerodynamic regulations, but we are some way off any kind of meaningful lap time. The picture is naturally a murkier one but we can at least have some idea of which teams are having a mare and which teams look to be roughly on course. And improves his time by half a second or so but not enough to go quickest. He wants them changed. Only 13 laps (!) Much slimmer, which is kind of the way things have been going. May as well... Charles Leclerc has stopped on track at turn four. Watch all of F1 2021 Testing Live on F1 TV - http://f1.com/F1TVLiveWe're half way through Testing in Bahrain! Daniel Ricciardo still leads the way in the McLaren-Mercedes. Needs to improve his qualifying, though. It's a sandy afternoon in Sakhir! 46 laps for him so far today. #F1 #F1Testing pic.twitter.com/aolWS9uSA2. 60 in total for the team. Red Bull, Alpine and Williams are the three teams that will give consistent running to just one of its drivers across the two Friday sessions with the latter giving a full day to test … In other news, Leclerc improved his time to go fourth with a 1.33.570. What happened? Hard to say at this point but it doesn't really sing under the Bahrain sun at the moment. Was hoping to get some more laps in this morning, but immensely proud of the team and their hard work #47 @HaasF1Team pic.twitter.com/olVTqMU1HC. ... F1 Pre-Season Testing Day 3 (Sunday) – Results. Want to know a bit more about how good Mick Schumacher is? It would be a surprise if they fell back to the fifth or sixth quickest team this year but you never know until you do. Presumably for that pedal change. He crosses the line quickest of anyone in S3 too and improves his time to go quickest by 0.952s and the first man in the 1.30s. Leclerc currently leading the lap count with 21. He is down in 13th currently, 3.5s off the pace. Norris will replace Ricciardo, Stroll replacing Vettel, Sainz in for Leclerc, Tsunoda replacing Gasly, Giovinazzi in for Raikkonen and Mazepin in for Schumacher, who himself only did 14 laps. But locks up into the tight left-hander in the middle of the lap at turn 10, running wide again. When asked if this was an error, Bottas told Sky Sports F1 he thought not. Some teams will be sharing each day, others won't. Gasly has done 37, the most of anyone. Decent lap, 1.3s off the pace. That could well be the end of the session. It's a handsome car but is the (British Racing) green a little darker than it looked at is reveal? It's massive, have a look here. Most drivers are close to 40 apart from Nissany (19), Schumacher (7) and Bottas (1). Formula 1 teams will be on-track together the first time in 2021 this week with the start of pre-season testing in Bahrain. I guess the amount of cars going around now alleviates the issue of the sand on the racing line, much like it would in the wet. It's a 1.37.834 which leaves him 11th, 5.5s off the pace. Good news for him and Mercedes. On track and from a distance, anyway. Gasly managed the highest tally with 74 laps to his name by the lunch break at 1400 local time, with his rookie team mate Yuki Tsunoda set to take over from him in the afternoon. Still out there! You need to be a subscriber to join the conversation. Raikkonen locks up again. 1. Conditions look to be getting worse. Here is my favourite image of the day below. Leclerc comes in, Gasly comes out and that is the first two hours – and first quarter of the day – done. Alonso will be a very good benchmark. Neither Raikkonen nor Vettel will drive in the afternoon with their respective team mates, Antonio Giovinazzi and Lance Stroll, taking over. 'The car feels good', says Alonso as he completes impressive 127 laps on Alpine debut, Ricciardo itching for night run in McLaren after topping both morning test sessions in Bahrain, AS IT HAPPENED: All the action from the final day of Pre-Season Testing in Bahrain, Formula 1 commentary legend Murray Walker passes away, aged 97, ‘I feel ready, I feel confident’ – Schumacher raring to go for debut Grand Prix after Bahrain test, © 2003-2021 Formula One World Championship Limited, WATCH: Mechanical issue puts an end to Charles Leclerc testing session, WATCH: Mercedes stuck in garage with gearshift issue. Combine this was a car that was designed for one that had more grunt and it deepened their issues in the corners, too. A good year for them would be leaping ahead of the midfield again and getting back firmly into third place overall. Russian flag issues aside, I think that is a fairly handsome-looking car. Nine other drivers have been out but none have done a classified lap time, so not really worth mentioning. A bit of feedback early on. Another lingering worry for all is the threat of a sandstorm from the surrounding Sakhir desert, with wind picking up around the track as the morning running came to a close. Well, it would have been until he got a bit twitchy in the final turn. The important thing is not necessarily lap times at this point but how much running teams do this to understand where their cars – and the data they have on them – are at. VSC was in place until the end. Red Bull's Verstappen not only posted the … Mick Schumacher returned his famous surname to the F1 timesheets for the first time in eight years but a gearbox issue meant he managed just 15 laps for new employers Haas, who officially unveiled their VF-21 ahead of the session. Formula 1 pre-season testing begins this morning and will feature 17 different drivers across the day with only three teams opting not to change driver in the lunch break. Anyway, Vettel's time was a 1.36.367, so that puts him ahead of the only other man to set a lap time, his former team-mate Charles Leclerc. Top three is possible. Norris goes sixth, 0.8s off his team-mate and on hards. Both are French: Ocon and Gasly. What have we learned? 2021 pre-season testing kicks off in Bahrain this Friday, March 12, and you can watch all three days of action live on F1 TV Pro, alongside a full live timing experience. Ferrari had a steady start to testing with Charles Leclerc finishing fifth-fastest, 1.039s off the pace. Light mode ⚪️| Dark modeLighting it up for the final hour in Bahrain! 131 for the day. Red Bull's Verstappen not only posted the quickest time of anybody in Bahrain but completed more laps – 129 in total – than any other driver. With only three days on track before the first practice session of the season – and a reduction of an hour in practice this year, too – Friday, Saturday and Sunday are going to be very important. Look at it! On the hard tyre and, unless he aborts, is going to go fastest by a long way. Not sure if the lights have made visibility much better or if the sand has dissipated somewhat. Formula One is back! A gearbox change for the Haas, apparently. We rely on advertising to help fund our award-winning journalism. He did that on the hard tyres, FYI. His team are on the way to get him going again, however. GREEN LIGHTS We're under way in Bahrain!! And that is quick enough to go ahead of his team-mate's time from this morning by six tenths. Not going great guns at the moment, his latest lap time 5.6s off Ricciardo's quickest time. Not that lap times really matter at this very, very early stage and – to a large extent – in testing at all. Home » F1 Season News » Formula 1 2021 Pre-Season Testing Live Coverage – Day 1. As Raikkonen is registered as going quickest with a 1.12.839. 2021 Pre-Season Testing: Day 1 Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN began the three-day testing session at the Bahrain International Circuit with a solid day of running in challenging conditions. Suspect that will see a few more drivers venture out. Not ideal. McLaren hit the ground running as new recruit Ricciardo set a fastest lap of 1m32.203s, which was just 0.028s faster than runner-up Pierre Gasly’s best effort for AlphaTauri, as the teams got their first running of the test under way. Think by the end of the season he had started to get closer to Daniel Ricciardo and had a second place in the Sakhir Grand Prix. That is Day 1 in the books but join us again tomorrow bright and early for full coverage of the second day of F1 pre-season testing from Bahrain. Or at least quite a lot of beans. Elsewhere, Lance Stroll was fourth for Aston Martin and McLaren – now powered by Mercedes – completed a trouble-free and promising day with their new driver line-up of Norris and Daniel Ricciardo. Bottas and Schumacher basically have one day left (maybe 150 laps if all goes well) before FP1 in Bahrain. Given Bahrain hosts the first Grand Prix in two weeks' time that makes logistical sense. Raikkonen has only run on the mediums, whilst Vettel has mixed longer runs of seven and eight laps on the hards with shorter ones on softs. Daniel Ricciardo set the benchmark time for McLaren on the opening morning of pre-season testing in Bahrain, while reigning champions Mercedes managed just a handful of laps as a gearbox issue kept Valtteri Bottas in the garage for most of the session. Max Verstappen ended day one of Formula One's pre-season test fastest of all, as Mercedes hit problems on the first morning. The picture will, of course, be different slightly come the end of testing in two days' time but ahead of testing I went through each of the 10 teams and assessed what they could hope, expect and what the actuality of their situation might be. Virtual Safety Car has been called for some reason, not sure why. A small electrical issue sees us delay the start of our afternoon session, we'll be out soon though.Can also confirm: Sandstorm bad. Hamilton is out again, again. Well done Williams here. Full times and lap counts coming shortly. Or at least a lap where the car is squirming quite a lot under braking. Still only seven for Mick Schumacher and nine for Roy Nisanny in the Williams. #SV5 pic.twitter.com/cag5pNRcKF. Verstappen ends it quickest ahead of Norris and Ocon. That is to say the difference between ride height in rear and front end. Not as good as the classic helmet in this design but it is all for a good cause... You may have noticed something a little special...Introducing Sebastian's 2021 lid. Clearly the track conditions are not impossible, even if they are difficult. Anyway, that is it from us today. Not much running from Haas yet. After a record seventh consecutive double title, are Mercedes F1's greatest ever team? They are swapping the gearbox, Ted Kravitz on Sky Sports F1 tells us. Stroll and Hamilton the only two drivers not yet out. 5 things we learned on the final day of pre-season testing in Bahrain, Verstappen hails best ever pre-season test for Red Bull after posting fastest lap in Bahrain, 'We're just not quick enough' – Hamilton admits Mercedes have 'lots of work to do' before first race, HIGHLIGHTS: Watch all the action from the final day of pre-season testing in Bahrain, MUST-SEE: Bizarre end to testing as Sainz and Raikkonen tangle at Turn 10. First day of testing was “a poor start to the season”, Mercedes admits In the right-left-right at the start of sector two he runs wide. Read our community guidelines in full, The latest offers and discount codes from popular brands on Telegraph Voucher Codes, Max Verstappen clocked the most miles of any driver – and was quickest too, Team-by-team guide: Hopes, expectations and realities for each team before the new season, F1 2021: pre-season tests, car launch dates, full race schedule and calendar​, F1 sprint races: how they could improve predictable race weekends​, Read the article:  Ranking every F1 track in the 2021 season from worst to best: Our verdict on which should stay, go or be added. Though with 10 minutes remaining, he suffered a suspected power unit issue and brought out a red flag as marshals recovered his car on the entry to Turn 4. Vettel still stranded at the end of the pit lane, it seems going by the driver tracker. Few finishing touches to W12. Only seven laps of running for him so far today. Think most teams will still manage that but it will be a push/impossible for Haas and Mercedes. Who's driving on day 2 of 2021 pre-season testing? Defending world champion Lewis Hamilton ended the day with a more encouraging 42 laps in the afternoon session but appeared to struggle with grip and balance throughout, as high winds and sand affected running later in the day. for Mercedes so far today. He ends up 5.237s off Ricciardo's time. Quick enough for ninth, 1.5s exactly off the pace on a set of hard tyres. Nissany has been on softs throughout but has yet to set a lap time in his 12 laps. Carlos Sainz started the day by topping the timing charts in the first hour with his time of 1… At least before lunch in 95 minutes' time. This weekend has seen Formula One cars hit the track for the first time in a few months. Gets a bit twitchy into the final corner and just misses out on first place. Sainz currently sitting in his Ferrari, though, so his arrival is probably imminent. The 21-year-old rookie would endure a somewhat frustrating morning session at the desert track as heat, dust and wind added to some early technical woes for the team. Formula 1 2021 Pre-Season Testing Live Coverage – Day 1. The first driver and team to reach that mark. We urge you to turn off your ad blocker for The Telegraph website so that you can continue to access our quality content in the future. You can read by full team-by-team guide here. Every time. He goes quickest by 1.7s over Vettel in the Aston Martin. And in what kind of conditions? He slots into second, 0.987s off the quickest time by Raikkonen. What is the potential of this car? Stay tuned to F1.com for live coverage, instant reaction and more from pre-season testing at the Bahrain International Circuit. #F1 #F1Testing pic.twitter.com/VSGtIqdobU. But also still fairly sandy at the track. Mercedes: Bottas/Hamilton  Red Bull: Verstappen McLaren: Ricciardo/Norris  Aston Martin: Vettel/Stroll  Alpine: Ocon  Ferrari: Leclerc/Sainz AlphaTauri:  Gasly/Tsunoda  Alfa Romeo: Raikkonen/Giovinazzi  Haas: Schumacher/Mazepin Williams: Nissany. Nor the Haas of Mick Schumacher. They are hoping enough to keep third in the championship and hopefully even closer to Red Bull. His lap time of 1.30.674 was two-tenths of a second ahead of McLaren's Lando Norris, with Alpine's Esteban Ocon nearly three-tenths back from Norris in third. Sainz goes up into fifth in the Ferrari with a lap 1.5s off Verstappen's. Here are the final standings and times from the Bahrain International Circuit on the third day of pre-season testing for. Carlos gets his first official laps in red #F1 #F1Testing pic.twitter.com/SGSEbWFcTL. Glad to have them back. It looks a nightmare to drive. Could be a long and tough season for them. Visibility is poor, but Hamilton giving it his all. REVEALED: Mercedes' secret floor breaks cover as the W12 hits the track at testing. Bottas has one lap on the board but no time and nine but no time for Roy Nissany in the Williams. 27 laps so far for him. Worth having a look at the difference in the front end on last year's AT01 and this year's AT02.