Bahrain F1 Test – Tuesday: Verstappen nips Schumacher

Schumacher turned competitive times in his first-ever F1 test

Max Verstappen nipped F2 driver Mick Schumacher in the rain-interrupted opening day of the Bahrain F1 test.

The 20-year-old Schumacher drew attention from the entire F1 paddock at Ferrari as he made his F1 test debut for the Italian team, emulating his father Michael who won five world titles with the Scuderia.

Late in the session Schumacher did quick run of 1m 29.976s to take top spot.

But Verstappen responded with five minutes of the track action to go to retake top spot with a 1m 29.379s and push Schumacher into second place.

Behind the front-runners, Lando Norris claimed third place for McLaren.

Fernando Alonso made his F1 return in the McLaren Pirelli tire test car completing 64 laps with a best time of 1m 32.207s.

A day to remember

It was a day to remember in Bahrain for Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow and all Formula 1 fans. Shortly after nine in the morning, Mick Schumacher, son of seven times world champion, Michael, had his first drive in a Formula 1 car, the Ferrari SF90.

The Ferrari Driver Academy (FDA) student, who made his Formula 2 debut over the weekend with the Prema team, jumped in the car for an installation lap, before pitting for the usual checks. A few minutes later, despite the track being extremely dirty following the sand storm that hit the area yesterday, Mick began his first run, putting together a series of laps at a constant pace.

The other newsworthy aspect of the day was the weather, with the occasional rain shower, hardly a usual feature in this part of the world, reducing the amount of track time in the morning for the teams. Before the lunch break, the young German had completed 33 laps, the quickest in 1’32"552. In the afternoon, Schumacher and the other drivers were only able to get back on track around 5pm, given that the rain was still falling in Sakhir.

Mick completed a further 23 laps, as he gradually gained confidence in the SF90, while working on a programme including tyre and set-up work. By the end of his first day in a Formula 1 car, the youngster had run up a total of 56 laps, equivalent to 303 kilometres, one lap less than Sunday’s race distance. His best time was a 1’29"976.

For the second and final day of the Sakhir test, Sebastian Vettel will be behind the wheel for Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow. Mick Schumacher will be in action yet again, switching to the cockpit of the Alfa Romeo Racing car.

Select Quotes

Lewis Hamilton:
We were driving on the same track we drove all weekend, but due to the conditions we faced completely different obstacles today. Both the temperatures and the wind were different to what we experienced last week, which is why this is actually quite a cool track to drive as it brought some variation.

Robert Kubica:
There is not a lot to say as we were unlucky with the weather. We did manage to complete a few runs and gather some data, but unfortunately, we were not able to test anything.

George Russell:
This morning was very limited due to the weather as we did not expect it to rain here in Bahrain, but this affected everybody down the pitlane. However, we still managed to conduct some good tests and gain valuable data that we can use to optimize the FW42. So, all in all a positive session despite the circumstances.

Alexander Albon:
“The first day of the Bahrain test went quite well, we had to stop for a few hours due to the rain, otherwise it was a pretty successful day. We got as much mileage in as we could, and we were able to complete a few aero tests which will hopefully bring more performance to the car. The job isn’t completely done yet, so we’ll have a busy schedule tomorrow to complete everything we want to test, but it’s looking good! I’m getting more experience in managing the tires and finding the best way to extract more performance out of them, so it’s been a useful day despite the rain interruption."

Mick Schumacher

Antonio Giovinazzi:
“It is a bit of a shame about the weather today – you don’t really expect for it to rain in the desert. We had some good track time this morning but then the wind picked up and it started to rain, so the conditions limited our running time. We completed good race simulations and I am happy about that. We learned some new things and we look forward to arriving in Shanghai to see where we can go from here."

Mick Schumacher
I really enjoyed today. It felt like home in the garage from the very first moment with a lot of people that know me since I was very young. The SF90 is incredible because of the power it has, but it is also smooth to drive, and that’s why I enjoyed myself so much. I was impressed by the braking power an F1 car has. It seemed to me you could brake later and later and the car would have made the turn anyway. I would like to say thank you Ferrari for this incredible opportunity and I’m looking forward to test the Alfa Romeo tomorrow.

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