Reigning F1 world champion Max Verstappen led the season’s first day of testing by over one second in a dominant display ahead of next week’s opener.
Verstappen finished 1.14 seconds clear of McLaren’s Lando Norris with the Red Bull 1.15 seconds ahead of Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz.
Daniel Ricciardo and Pierre Gasly completed the top five on the first day.
The fastest Mercedes was 12th with Lewis Hamilton not setting a time on Tuesday.
The Bahrain testing comes 10 days before the season opener at the same track with Verstappen looking for a fourth title.
F1 lap times – day one
1. Max Verstappen (Red Bull) – one minute 31.344 seconds
2. Lando Norris (McLaren) – 1:32.484
3. Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) – 1:32.584
4. Daniel Ricciardo (RB) – 1:32.599
5. Pierre Gasly (Alpine) – 1:32.805
6. Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) – 1:33.007
7. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) – 1:33.247
8. Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) – 1:33.385
9. Oscar Piastri (McLaren) – 1:33.658
10. Zhou Guanyu (Sauber) -1:33.871
11. Logan Sargeant (Williams) – 1:33.882
12. George Russell (Mercedes) – 1:34.109
13. Yuki Tsunoda (RB) – 1:34.136
14. Valtteri Bottas (Sauber) – 1:34.431
15. Alex Albon (Williams) – 1:34.587
16. Esteban Ocon (Alpine) – 134.677
17. Kevin Magnussen (Haas) – 1:35.692
18. Nico Hulkenberg (Haas) – 1:35.906
The season
February 29 – March 2BahrainSakhirMarch 7-9Saudi ArabiaJeddahMarch 22-24AustraliaMelbourneApril 5-7JapanSuzukaApril 19-21ChinaShanghaiMay 3-5MiamiMiamiMay 17-19Emilia RomagnaImolaMay 24-26MonacoMonacoJune 7-9CanadaMontrealJune 21-23SpainBarcelonaJune 28-30AustriaSpielbergJuly 5-7United KingdomSilverstoneJuly 19-21HungaryBudapestJuly 26-28BelgiumSpaAugust 23-25NetherlandsZandvoortAugust 30 – September 1ItalyMonzaSeptember 13-15AzerbaijanBakuSeptember 20-22SingaporeSingaporeOctober 18-20USAAustinOctober 25-27MexicoMexico CityNovember 1-3BrazilSao PauloNovember 21-23Las VegasLas VegasNovember 29 – December 1QatarLusailDecember 6-8Abu DhabiYas MarinaThe calendar