*Daniel Ricciardo was due to drive the McLaren, but the Australian was feeling unwell and couldn't drive, with Norris stepping in.

** Haas had freight delays that meant it couldn't build up its VF-22 in time for the morning session. 

The morning session proved to be relatively untroubled for most of teams, except McLaren and Haas. McLaren couldn’t field Daniel Ricciardo in the MCL36, as the Australian was feeling unwell and could not take part in the session, meaning they had to change the car back to suit Lando Norris’s demands - and the team later had to fix brake issues on the car, losing even more track time. Haas was still building its VF-22 during the morning, after freight delays held the American team back, with no laps completed for them.

Ferrari set the pace during the session, with Charles Leclerc constantly improving his time throughout the 4-hour session, to end up with a time of 1:34.571, over half-a-second faster than second place driver Albon, and 1.1s clear of Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel.

Sergio Perez completed the most laps of all in the morning, with his tally of 70 laps, and a time good enough for fourth place.

Perhaps the biggest surprise and talking point of the day, Mercedes ranked P5 among the morning runners. The heavily revised W13 provoked lots of debate around its legality and effectiveness. A returning talking point from the Barcelona testing, the ‘porpoising’ effect was very visible in the Mercedes, with Lewis Hamilton bouncing off the bumps on the main straight several times.

Big changes at @MercedesAMGF1 since the last time we were on track 👀#F1Testing #F1 pic.twitter.com/6oPKiH9vQS

— Formula 1 (@F1) March 10, 2022

A general trend among all teams was that the new cars are more prone to locking up. Throughout the session, many drivers found themselves having to pick up their machines after a trip to the escape roads, especially in Turn 10.

The session ran uninterrupted, with only a Virtual Safety Car deployed minutes from the end, in a testing move done by the FIA to ensure their systems are working correctly.

Rookie in 2022, Zhou Guanyu had his running curtailed when his Alfa Romeo stopped by the pit lane, having to be pushed back by his mechanics.

CLASSIFICATION

AFTERNOON SESSION

The red flags, that were absent in the first half of the day, made its presence felt in the afternoon, when Lance Stroll's Aston Martin had an aero rake dislodge from the rear of the car, leaving metal debris on the back straight and requiring the first red flag of the day; and then again on the final five minutes of the session, when after a Virtual Safety Car, Sergio Perez spun his Red Bull and beached it in the gravel trap at the exit of turn 8, bringing an early end to the session.

'Checo'-ing out the damage 👀

Not the way Sergio Perez would've wanted to end his day! #F1Testing #F1 pic.twitter.com/rPKcNS4cVZ

— Formula 1 (@F1) March 10, 2022

With the ever-dropping temperatures, and conditions getting closer to those that the teams will experience on the actual Bahrain GP next week, focus largely shifted towards performance runs and the lowering of the ride heights on the cars, which generated a trend of more cars suffering from the porpoising problems.

Ferrari showed their hand once again, with Carlos Sainz joining team-mate Charles Leclerc at the top of the timings, setting a time good enough for P2. But soon enough Pierre Gasly put a marker down and got the AlphaTauri in front of their fellow compatriots, by an impressive margin of over half-a-second, before Sainz improved his time to get closer to the Frenchman. Lance Stroll was another driver showing signs of performance runs, with a lap on the C4 tyres taking the Canadian up to the top 4, after having spent most of the session in the lower placings.

It was a troubled session for Alpine, with Fernando Alonso only completing 24 laps during the 4-hour window. Another team who struggled in testing, as a whole so far, is Alfa Romeo – but while Zhou Guanyu had some problems in the morning, his team-mate Valtteri Bottas will be relieved that he got a solid 66 laps on the board on the afternoon, showing signs of promise by the Swiss squad.

Haas finally rolled out onto the track after the lunch break, but Pietro Fittipaldi completing a total of 47 laps, gathering important data for the team and for their newly announced driver Kevin Magnussen.

Some general themes of the day were the cars locking the front tyres up, mostly around turns 1, 8 and 10 – particularly George Russell, Lando Norris, and the Aston Martin pair. The drivers were spotted testing out how it is to follow closely another car, to see if the new regulations are working as intended. Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso particularly had a gripping battle in the first sector of the lap, with just under 25 minutes to go in the first day of testing in Bahrain.

Formula 1 returns to action tomorrow on the Bahrain International Circuit, as teams continue their preparations ahead of the start of the season next week. All the latest testing news, coverage and info will be brought to you by MotorLAT.