The morning session of the second day of F1 pre-season testing has been cancelled after Charles Leclerc ran over a loose drain cover.
Teams have been out on track in Bahrain this week to put their cars to the test ahead of the new season starting next week.
The first day of testing went relatively smoothly on Wednesday, with teams having varied success.
But the morning session on Thursday was forced to be cancelled with over an hour still left after a drain cover came loose on track.
The morning session on Thursday was cancelled
F1
Replays showed that Lewis Hamilton ran slightly wide at Turn 11 with debris flying up behind him.
Leclerc then ran over the same spot as Hamilton a lap later and suffered damage to the underside of his car.
After the red flag was waved, track officials came out to inspect the area where it became clear a drain cover had become loose.
After Leclerc returned to the garage, Ferrari immediately put the covers up as they checked the floor of his car.
The boards being put up indicated that Ferrari mechanics had taken the floor off Leclerc's car to inspect it closely for any serious damage.
Mercedes engineers were also seen looking underneath Hamilton's car to find where the damage had occurred.
There was promising signs in the Ferrari garage after 10 minutes as the boards came down.
But F1 bosses were forced to cancel the morning session in the end with track officials failing to fix the issue.
A statement from F1 read: "The session will not resume due to a drain cover coming loose at turn 11. Repairs are underway and it is expected that the repair will be concluded within one hour. The afternoon session will begin one hour earlier than planned at 14:00 local time."
Ferrari had seemingly taken the floor off Charles Leclerc's car
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The first day of testing gave a small hint of what to expect for the upcoming season with Red Bull seemingly picking up where they left off.
Max Verstappen put in more laps than anyone and expressed his approval of the new RB20 after the session.
“It feels good to be back in an F1 car again and I had fun out on track today,” he summarised at the end of the day.
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🚨 Session will not be resumed 🚨
— Formula 1 (@F1) February 22, 2024
Due to track repairs, the AM session ends after three hours
We take an early lunch break now, and the PM session will begin one hour earlier at 1400 local time#F1Testing #F1 pic.twitter.com/OoiO1RUeGF
“We covered a lot of laps and tried quite a few things with the car, which was important, so happy overall with how it went.
“After the winter break, the first few laps always surprise you a little but then you get back into the swing of things pretty quickly. Overall, the car was responding well and considering this was only testing we had a nice day.
“Looking to tomorrow, we are speaking to our engineers about what the plans will be, but I am looking forward to getting into the car in the afternoon.”
