F1 testing delayed again as drain drama in exact same spot disrupts morning session

NEWBIE IN FOREIGN LAND February 23, 2024 0

Pre-season testing in Bahrain has once again been disrupted by a drain cover coming loose in the same spot that forced Thursday's morning session to be cancelled.

Teams are out on track for the third and final day of testing with specific programmes being run to find out as much data as possible.

While not much can be read into the timesheets, teams need to put in the laps out on track to get as much information as they can.

But all cars were back in the garage after just 27 minutes into the morning session on Friday after a drain cover came loose out on track.

The session was red flagged after cover came loose when Sergio Perez drove over it.

It comes just 24 hours after the exact same issue arose during Thursday's morning session, that was ultimately cancelled.

After inspecting the track on Thursday, circuit officials decided to cancel the session that still had over an hour left to run.

Instead, the afternoon session was extended to last five hours with the drain cover issue not being an issue.

However, it seemingly wasn't completely fixed as the drain covers at Turn 11 after Perez ran over the same section of the track.

FIA race director Neils Wittich drove in the medical car to inspect the damage on the track and officials were seen welding the piece of metal back in place.

Sky Sports pundit Anthony Davidson explained that other tracks could have similar issues this year due to the level of downforce modern F1 cars are driven now.

He said: "I wouldn't be surprised if it's the same drain. It's clearly in that area where the cars are running over the kerb - with more ground effects than ever before.

"It's not really a surprise, it's just that suction from the floor is really doing the damage there.

"So that's something to think about for all circuits because if it can happen here it can happen anywhere.

Track officials welded the piece of metal back in place

"And it's nothing to do with any fragility of this circuit design - we've been here since 2004, it's a beautiful race track, so this is an absolute rarity.

"But if it's happening frequently here then it's a bit warning shot for other circuits I fear as these cars generate more and more suction from the floor."