Day 1 - Bahrain Report: Hulkenberg leads Ferrari and Mercedes

Day 1 of the second official pre-season Formula 1 test got underway in the Gulf of Bahrain this morning with expectant sunny conditions.

The British-based Lotus squad were the only team not to be present at the first test in Jerez, meaning that today would be one of the first chances they had to assess the E22's performance, with Romain Grosjean behind the wheel.

After a short delay due to a track inspection the green light came on, and Caterham's Reserve Driver, Robin Frijns was the first to take to the track.

It was Adrian Sutil of Sauber who showed the initial pace, before Lewis Hamilton's Mercedes hit the top of the timesheets once the track was up to optimum temperature. He was closely followed by Fernando Alonso's Ferrari.

There were yet more problems for the Red Bull team, with Sebastian Vettel stopping on track due to a suspected technical issue, cutting his running short for the day. Daniil Kvyat also suffered problems in the form of an oil leak whilst on-track with his Toro Rosso STR9, forcing the Russian to stop on track.

The Grove-based Williams team suffered a loss in running today due to a problem with the fuel system, Felipe Massa was scheduled to drive but completed no laps.

It would be Caterham who completed the most amount of laps (68) for any Renault-powered team once more today, with the next best being Red Bull who completed 14.

Despite both Ferrari and Mercedes' promising pace at the start of the session, it would be Force India who were fastest overall after Nico Hulkenberg posted a 1.36.880 which was just under a second quicker than the Italian and British marques.

Tom Brooks
F1 Editor

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  • Team Aston Martin
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  • Country ES
  • Date of b. Jul 29 1981 (44)
  • Place of b. Oviedo, ES
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