Posted on 18th April 2017
This afternoon we saw Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton led the way during the first of the first in-season test at the Bahrain International Circuit ahead of Antonio Giovinazzi and Daniel Ricciardo despite Hamilton stopping on the track this morning due to an electrical fault.
With the start of action having been delayed by 10 minutes so that track officials could move shipping containers away from a dangerous place at the exit of the pitlane, Hamilton’s day had initially not got off to the best of starts as he brought out a red flag after just 15 minutes when his car stopped on track.
The issue was discovered to be an electrical disconnection but once the W08 had been returned to the pits, the problem was rectified and Hamilton was able to get on with his programme as planned.
The day did not also go Sebastian Vettel's way either as their reserve driver Antonio Giovinazzi was tasked with Ferrari's development programme while Vettel concentrated on testing for 2018 tyre testing for Pirelli. But Vettel suffered an engine problem in the afternoon which limited his running on the circuit.
As a result of this, Pirelli subsequently got agreement from other teams to extend its own private test programme until 9pm local time so it did not lose any of its hoped-for track time.
Red Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo's running was cut short when he suffered a Renault engine failure in the afternoon which left him stranded on track at Turn 1. A replacement power unit will be fitted overnight to allow Pierre Gasly to run on Wednesday.
However, Ricciardo was not the only one to suffer a Renault problem, with Toro Rosso rookie Sean Gelael also hitting trouble in the morning when his car ground to a halt with a suspected engine failure. Gelael was able to get back out later in the day though but caused yet another red flag later in the afternoon.
But the first day of the test was not a pleasant one for the McLaren-Honda team and development driver and NEXTEV NIO Formula E driver Oliver Turvey. Turvey remained stranded in the garage for much of the day after a water leak from the ERS was detected.
McLaren-Honda had to conduct a power unit change, meaning that Turvey only re-appeared during the final hour and only got 16 laps to his name.
But it was Lewis Hamilton who was fastest on the first day of the first F1 in-season test with a stunning lap time of 1.31.358 and completed 97 laps. Hamilton finished ahead of Antonio Giovinazzi in second place and ahead of Daniel Ricciardo in third place.
Romain Grosjean finished in fourth place ahead of Felipe Massa in fifth place, Nico Hulkenberg in sixth place, Lance Stroll in seventh place, Sean Gelael in eighth place, Sebastian Vettel in ninth place and Alfonso Celis Jr in tenth place.
As we head further down the grid, Marcus Ericsson ended the session in eleventh place ahead of Oliver Turvey in twelfth place.
Day One Timesheet
1) Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 1:31.358, 97 laps
2) Antonio Giovinazzi, Ferrari, 1:31.984, 93 laps
3) Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull, 1:32.349, 45 laps
4) Romain Grosjean, Haas, 1:32.452, 87 laps
5) Felipe Massa, Williams, 1:32.509, 56 laps
6) Nico Hulkenberg, Renault, 1:33.624, 74 laps
7) Lance Stroll, Williams, 1:33.729, 35 laps
8) Sean Gelael, Toro Rosso, 1:33.885, 78 laps
9) Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, 1:33.894, 89 laps
10) Alfonso Celis Jr, Force India, 1.33.939, 71 laps
11) Marcus Ericsson, Sauber, 1.34.550, 106 laps
12) Oliver Turvey, McLaren-Honda, 1.35.011, 17 laps
Keep your eyes peeled at Driving For Pleasure as we will be covering the final day of the first in-season F1 test at the Bahrain International Circuit with our report tomorrow alongside the latest F1 news.
Sarah Jones- @jonesy_laaa
