The first day of the Bahrain F1 test saw McLaren take the lead with Lando Norris at the helm, but it was Red Bull and Max Verstappen who truly stole the show. Norris, who took over the MCL40 from Oscar Piastri during the midday break, set the fastest time of the day with a 1m34.669s lap on medium tires in the final hour. However, Verstappen, who had the RB22 to himself all day, impressed with consistent long runs, despite Mercedes boss Toto Wolff claiming the new Red Bull-Ford power unit has an energy deployment advantage. Charles Leclerc, sharing the Ferrari with Lewis Hamilton, was just over half a second behind Norris, followed by Esteban Ocon in the Haas and morning session runners Piastri, George Russell, and Hamilton. Alpine and Audi were the only other cars to break the 1m37s mark. Audi, showcasing a unique sidepod design, caused a red flag early in the afternoon but returned quickly and ran extensively. Mercedes encountered an issue with its car, limiting Kimi Antonelli's running time in the afternoon. Aston Martin-Honda faced a more significant setback, not taking to the track in the afternoon and completing only 36 laps with Lance Stroll. Honda attributed the issue to a data anomaly, promising to fix it and resume testing the next day. Williams, which was absent from the Barcelona shakedown, surpassed Aston's mileage with Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon combining for nearly 150 laps on Wednesday. The new Cadillac team also had a productive day, ending four seconds off the pace and accumulating much-needed mileage. Racing Bulls missed the afternoon session after logging 75 laps in the morning, highlighting the competitive nature of the test.
