Force Indie racer Nico Hulkenberg was the fastest on the first day of winter testing in Bahrain. However, the current world champions Red Bull Racing are still in trouble, as their race car failed again after only 14 laps.
Mercedes teams continued to show exceptional form, with team cars from German-made engines working reliably.
With a lap time of 1: 36.880, Nico Hulkenberg was one second faster than the others, noting that he set the time with a softer version of the tires.
They had a bit more trouble at Williams, where Felipe Massa drove just five laps with FW36.
At Red Bull, testing began just a quarter before 14 p.m., local time. Sebastian Vettel set the fifth time of the day, but he only managed XNUMX laps with the car.
Even before the start of testing, Lotus presented its race car this year. Although Romain Grosjean was the first to drive on the track with him, the Frenchman did only eight laps before the car was seduced by software and then by ERS batteries. Grosjean set the ninth time neva.
Among the teams with a Renault engine, Caterham showed the best results. Robin Frijns collected as many as 67 laps. Toro Ross also had problems with their STR9. He disappointed Daniil Kvyat after five rounds.
Fernando Alonso briefly frightened his fans, as the Spaniard drove into the garage with a Ferrari F14 T after only a few laps. Smoke was billowing from the rear, and mechanics later determined it was a fuel mixture problem and the two-time champion soon returned to the track. In the end, he was second fastest and drove 64 laps.
Adrian Sutil set the sixth fastest time in Sauber with a Ferrari engine after 81 laps, and the German was spinning on the track with his C33 car this time as well.
1. Nico Hulkenberg, Force India, 1: 36.880, 78 rounds
2. Fernando Alonso, Ferrari, 1: 37.879, 64 laps
3. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 1: 37.908, 74 laps
4. Kevin Magnussen, McLaren, 1: 38.295, 81 rounds
5. Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull, 1: 40.224, 14 rounds
6. Adrian Sutil, Sauber, 1: 40.443, 81 rounds
7. Robin Friens, Caterham, 1: 42.534, 67 laps
8. Daniil Kvyat, Toro Rosso, 1: 44.346, 5 rounds
9. Romain Grosjean, Lotus, 1: 44.832, 8 rounds
10. Felipe Massa, Williams, No time, 5 rounds
11. Jules Bianchi, Marussia, No time, 3 rounds
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