Formula 1: Verstappen had a bad day and complained about the car on a day where Ricciardo and Hamilton dominated

The symphony of the engines of each of the teams Formula 1 They can already be felt in the Sakhir desert, in Bahrain, where the top motorsport category has its first official event on the calendar. With a different program than usual, due to Ramadan, the riders carried out their first training sessions this Thursday and the race will be on Saturday.

A day of surprises took place this Thursday in Bahrain, where in both the first and second training sessions they led the teams that were far from competing on equal terms with Red Bull in last week’s pre-season tests. Furthermore, the Austrian team found itself outside the top 5 of the standings in both sessions of the day, with Verstappen shocked by the performance of the RB20.

In the first free practice the surprise came from the team Red Bull F1 Team Visa Cash App (ex Alpha Tauri) and its pilot Daniele Ricciardowho placed first after setting a time of 1:32:869. Landau Norris, meanwhile, finished second in his McLaren and Oscar Piastri, his teammate, finished third.

In fourth place were the Japanese Yuki Tsunoda, who occupies the second place of the brand new RB visa. Only the top four in the standings were on fast (or soft) tyres, while the others opted to switch between hard and medium tyres. The Asturian Fernando Alonso was the one who achieved the best time and finished in fifth place.

Much more was expected from the performance of the three-time reigning champion, Max Verstappen (Red Bull)and who is called to be its main competitor, Charles Leclerc (Ferrari). Both went unnoticed despite having achieved good records in previous trials. The Dutchman barely managed to stop the clock on 1.33.238 and finished sixth; Meanwhile, the Monegasque finished eighth with 1,33,268. The English sneaked in among them. George Russel (Mercedes).

Verstappen looked quite upset and annoyed with his new car during the first training session as he did not find the best version of the RB20. “Everything is miles away”, he said into the radio as he circled the circuit. At the same time, during the session he exchanged conversations with his team due to the poor performance of the car, which, according to the driver, had gearbox problems and poor stability on the track.

As dusk fell, under the artificial lights and desert stars, several teams began the second free practice with the training program for the classification, when with low fuel cars and soft tires you could see much faster times and close to those who – it is estimated – will be entered in the rankings this Friday. The second training session took place at the same time Quality and this is why several teams have used the ranking program to have a reference for establishing the fastest lap.

Another of the big surprises of the day was Mercedes, which set the fastest time of the afternoon session. Lewis Hamilton reached first place after scoring 1:30:374. His teammate, Russell, finished second and Fernando Alonso finished third. Both Verstappen and Leclerc disappointed once again and failed to substantially improve their times by installing the faster tire compound. Mad Max He was in sixth place, +0.477 seconds behind Hamilton and Leclerc was ninth, +0.739 behind the British driver.

This Friday we will take to the track again, first to complete the third training session of the weekend, which will begin at 9.30am (Argentine time), when the teams are expected to take advantage of the full fuel program to test the car’s performance for the race. And the ranking will take place at 1pm (on Star+ and F1 TV).

Several drivers had to battle with their cars during training sessions

Not all was speed and joy in Bahrain to officially return to competition. Some drivers had to struggle during training sessions to get through the Sakhir circuit.

In the first training session, the person who had been seen arguing a lot with the car went Carlos Sainz (Ferrari)who in various sectors of the circuit was seen blocking the tires to find the ideal turning radius when entering the corners.

Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) He was another one of those who had serious problems mastering his machine. The Canadian driver was forced to block several times when he was unable to find the balance of the car under braking and even continued to take some corners of the circuit.

Different perspective for Fernando Alonso who, unlike his teammate, found balance in the set-up and placed in the top 5 of the standings in both training sessions.

The most sensational of the errors was that of Leclerc, who got quite a scare in one of the last corners of the circuit, when – as he himself admitted -, He made a mistake that almost caused him to crash into the wall.even if he was able to channel the car to bring it back to the pits in one piece.