This morning, it felt like Las Vegas in Bahrain: A manhole cover caused chaos, leading to a temporary halt in work for the teams.
Charles Leclerc led the field after the incident, and Ferrari continued to sit at the top of the timesheets for the rest of the day. Carlos Sainz took over in the afternoon session and set the fastest lap of the day and of the testing period so far on the C4 compound tires. At Red Bull Racing, after yesterday's complications, Max Verstappen was sidelined, and Sergio Perez took over for the entire Thursday. Perez was hindered by a brake issue, but the team quickly resolved it, allowing him to finish second.
The third force was Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton, the seven-time world champion, who achieved this result on the harder and slower C3 compound tires, despite a problematic day. Lando Norris finished fourth, with his team also struggling with technical issues.
Results:
Photo: Formula1.com
