28/02/2025
NEWS STORY
We've had power failures, the Weather Gods and this morning it was broken glass from the starting gantry that brought the waving of the red flag and the bringing of proceedings to halt.
However, the good news is that the stoppage was short lived, while the slightly warmer conditions have allowed teams to step up their programmes as the test comes to an end.
There was early drama when Oliver Bearman lost a large part of his engine cover, thereby exposing the Ferrari engine, while Gabriel Bortoleto spent more time in the times than he will have wanted.
Slightly higher winds have caused a few drivers to wobble, while Aston Martin opted to run Fernando Alonso after Lance Stroll phoned in sick. Hey it's the end of the month, pay day!
As ever, the early phase of the session saw aero rakes and lashings of flo-vis, while the Red Bull, which will be driven by Max Verstappen all day, featured a new front wing and nose.
Once again Bearman is off the pace, but this is down to the fact that Haas is sticking to high fuel runs.
"On the long runs yesterday, the degradation was much lower than what you have normally in Bahrain," revealed Pirelli's Mario Isola. "We also don't know how much teams are hiding their real performance. But at least we have an indication of our tyres."
With this year's Bahrain event being held in mid-April, when conditions will be warmer, degradation is likely to be much higher than that being experienced this week.
The different fuel loads mean that it is hard to get a decent idea of the pecking order, however, for the most part reliability appears fine, with all but Verstappen, Alonso and Bortoleto having completed a race distance.
Hadjar (73) completed the most laps, ahead of Leclerc (66), Doohan and Antonelli, both on 61.
This afternoon sees Gasly, Hamilton, Hulkenberg, Ocon, Piastri, Russell, Stroll and Tsunoda in action, while Albon and Verstapepn continue for Williams and Red Bull respectively.
Morning Times - All Times Unofficial
| Name | Team | Tyres | Laps | Time | Gap |
| Leclerc | Ferrari | C3 | 66 | 1:30.811 | 133.317 mph |
| Antonelli | Mercedes | C3 | 61 | 1:30.888 | 0.077 |
| Norris | McLaren | C3 | 57 | 1:30.943 | 0.132 |
| Verstappen | Red Bull | C3 | 47 | 1:31.209 | 0.398 |
| Doohan | Alpine | C3 | 61 | 1:31.239 | 0.428 |
| Albon | Williams | C2 | 58 | 1:31.444 | 0.633 |
| Hadjar | RB | C3 | 73 | 1:31.761 | 0.950 |
| Alonso | Aston Martin | C3 | 49 | 1:32.084 | 1.273 |
| Bortoleto | Stake | C3 | 35 | 1:32.147 | 1.336 |
| Bearman | Haas | C3 | 59 | 1:32.361 | 1.550 |