Season debrief: Verstappen tops the times in day one of testing
- mallikarull
- Feb 21, 2024
- 2 min read
Testing ahead of the 2024 season has officially kicked off, 18 out of 20 drivers taking to the tracks to test and tweak their challenger for the upcoming season. Mercedes and Red Bull opted to have one driver run both sessions, Russell and Verstappen getting behind the wheel for today’s sessions. Hamilton and Perez will follow by completing both sessions in day 2
Image: motorsport.com
Session 1:
Verstappen completed the morning session on top with a time of 1:32.548, and with a 0.699 second gap between himself and Leclerc in P2. Verstappen’s quicker laps coming on the C3 Medium tyre compound, the RB20 looking to be a handful on the Hard Pirelli tyre compound at the start of the session. Alonso rounded of the top 3 in the first test session in the AMR24.
Session 1 was largely without any disruptions, except for Ocon and Albon, who both had to return to the pits following incidents on track. Esteban Ocon went off at Turn 4, sliding across the gravel with cross winds. Ocon returned to the pits for repairs, completed his first of three sessions in P9 with a time of 1:34.677 to complete day 1.
Albon was the driver to bring out the yellow flag after stopping at Turn 1 with near 25 minutes left of the first session. Marshalls were able to recover the FW46 without the need to bring out the red flag. It would be fuel-related issues that brought Albon to a sudden stop.
Image: motorsport.com
McLaren had a slow start to the morning with Piastri, who finished in P4, followed by Tsunoda and Russel in P5 and P6 respectively. Russell in the Mercedes spent a large amount of the time in the pits making set up changes. Magnussen in the Haas, struggled with a fuel system glitch, finishing slowest in the group, 3.144 seconds behind the session leader.
Session 2:
McLaren faced another slow start to the session, with Norris being held up in the pits, as the team barricaded the pits as they worked on the floor. Despite the delay, it was Sargeant in the Williams to leave the pits last. Team Principal of Williams, James Vowels, explaining that there were issues with the high-pressure sensors on Sergeant’s car.
It was not a good day in the office for Williams, with Sargeant next to face an issue, which would end his session early. Sargeant hit a bump, bringing him back to the pits so the team could investigate for any damages. Later it was revealed to be driveshaft issues, that would see Sargeant out for the rest of the evening.
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