F1 Bahrain red flag: More chaos in Sakhir as testing faces even LONGER delay

Safety Car, Bahrain, 2024 — Photo: © IMAGO

F1 Testing 2024

More red flag chaos as F1 faces even LONGER testing delay in Bahrain

The incident marks the second red flag in two days of testing

Tyler Rowlinson

Friday 23 February 2024 09:37 Updated: 13:06

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The final day of F1 pre-season testing in Bahrain has seen a red flag stop the session following another issue with a drain cover.

After around 30 minutes of the morning session on Friday, Red Bull's Sergio Perez ran over the cover at turn 11 - the same area that Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc struck one on Thursday and caused damage to the Ferrari's floor.

It is not known whether it is the exact same drain cover that came loose as the day before, but the session could be set for a more lengthy delay as officials get to welding the outside of the track to fix further issues.

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Sergio Perez out on track before the Red Bull driver appeared to run over the drain cover

TV pundit warns of need for 'different solution'

Top TV pundit and former F1 driver, Anthony Davidson, speaking on Sky Sports, said: "The tyre looked like it was the final piece of the puzzle that ripped that drain cover out.

"Maybe it's just become loose, over the years, as this circuit ages. It could just be the cars venturing out further and further, as the years go by and the cars get bigger and the ground-effects increases. Maybe it's a combination of all those elements.

"You can see Niels Wittich out there as well, [FIA] race director, having a proper look at it now. This might be a longer stop today now, than yesterday, because they've seen - if it is the same piece of drain cover that's come loose again, they've got to find a different solution and that might take more time."

The session is due to restart at 11:45 local time (8:45 UK time) and there will be no lunch break, meaning that the session will run all the way to 4pm GMT as scheduled.

It will mark a longer delay than was seen on Thursday, where the session was cancelled after a hiatus of less than an hour.