FIA announce official F1 testing update after FREAKISH red flag

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F1 Testing

FIA announce official F1 testing update after FREAKISH red flag

F1's governing body announced the new mid-session in Bahrain

Simmey Hannifin Donaldson

Wednesday 26 February 2025 17:13

The FIA has announced an official update on Formula 1 pre-season testing after the action in Bahrain was halted due to a freakish red flag.

F1 cars are set for three days of rigorous testing from Wednesday through until Friday this week, with Bahrain International Circuit playing the host.

However, after a clean session of running this morning, with Lewis Hamilton having made his official F1 debut for Ferrari, a strange problem hit the drivers in the cars this afternoon.

As we headed into the evening in Bahrain, the circuit suffered a huge power cut, plunging the track into darkness and bringing out the red flag.

Lewis Hamilton drove for Ferrari this morning

There was a power cut at Bahrain International Circuit

FIA announce testing update

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This occurred at approximately 5 pm local time in Bahrain, with running ending up being halted for roughly an hour.

With testing time limited across the three days, that is a huge amount of time for teams and their drivers to lose out on.

Although cars did manage to make it back on track under the lights for the final hour of the session, the FIA revealed that they had extended the session time by an hour, therefore mitigating for the lost hour due to the power cut.

As such, testing will now end at 8 pm local time in Bahrain, or noon on the East Coast in the United States.

Lewis Hamilton Ferrari Formula 1 FIA Bahrain International Circuit