F1 testing halted by ‘RIDICULOUS’ red flag in freak incident

The final day of pre-season testing at Bahrain International Circuit has been halted by a bizarre incident.

The red flag was waved with less than an hour to go in Friday morning's test session, where the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc had been leading the timesheet.

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The final morning session of the week was red-flagged when the window pane from the start box shattered, leaving a pile of broken glass below, scattered all over the track.

Discussing the freak accident on Sky F1, David Croft said: "This is not something that should happen.

"This is ridiculous."

Ferrari have started the season strongly with positive times in Bahrain" src="https://sportsbase.io/images/gpfans/copy_620x348/93b43c0ff442686fb5bf6244a8398eb65e0fd8be.jpg">

Fernando Alonso's Aston Martin returned to the track prematurely" src="https://sportsbase.io/images/gpfans/copy_620x348/a08e8e6fd34ba2427c9398c5b12411381b9a0523.jpg">

Bizarre red flag causes confusion among the pack

Following the unusual incident, the Mercedes machinery piloted by Kimi Antonelli appeared back on track prematurely, despite the fact that the session was still officially red-flagged.

The 18-year-old wasn't alone in his confusion as Fernando Alonso's Aston Martin accompanied him, with the session briefly going green before swiftly resuming to red flag status.

According to Sky's live coverage, race control were likely to have red-flagged the session again after noticing a quad bike on track, which was likely sent out to recover the employees sweeping up the glass on track.

Antonelli and Alonso both returned to the pits before the session resumed and the track had finally been cleared.

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