Mick Schumacher’s first run for Ferrari and Fernando Alonso back in a McLaren headlined the first day of testing in Bahrain.
13 years after his father last drove for the Scuderia, a moment which will be replayed for decades to come played out as his 20-year-old rolled out on track in scarlet red for the first time.
And it was a solid outing for the German Formula 2 driver as, despite two bouts of heavy rain in the desert stopping the action on track, he completed 56 laps to post the second-best time of the day with a 1m29.976s on the C5 tyre.
Also out on track was Alonso in his first official outing in an F1 car since retiring at the end of 2018.
The Spaniard ran the full day in the McLaren focusing on Pirelli tyre development and managing 64 laps, setting the 11th best time.
The fastest man on Tuesday was Max Verstappen in the Red Bull as he posted a 1m29.379s on the C3 compound in the final minutes to prevent what would have been the dream ‘Schumacher leads’ headline.
Still, the final result of ‘Verstappen leads Schumacher’ brings back so many 1994 vibes it can’t be ignored.
Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz both shared running in the McLaren test car with the Briton third fastest overall. Lando would only manage 22 laps though because of the unusually variable weather.
Romain Grosjean was fourth for Haas as he shared the VF-19 with development driver Pietro Fittipaldi, however, the Brazilian too missed out on meaningful running due to the conditions.
Fresh from his first F1 points on Sunday, Alex Albon had a productive day with 71 laps in the Toro Rosso and finished fifth.
But it was Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes who covered the most distance with 77 tours of the Sakhir Circuit as the world champion ended the day sixth.
Daniel Ricciardo was seventh for Renault ahead of Lance Stroll’s Racing Point with Sainz and Antonio Giovinazzi rounding out the top 10.
Williams unsurprisingly sat at the back with Robert Kubica 13th and George Russell 15th, albeit with Daniil Kvyat in between in the Toro Rosso.
Full results from Day 1 can be seen below:
