F1 testing halted after shuttle bus drives onto track in Bahrain

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Well, you don’t see that everyday.

The afternoon session of Formula 1 pre-season testing was briefly interrupted Friday when a shuttle bus drove on the track.

In a bizarre scene, a red flag was waved to halt testing as a white bus drove slowly on a runoff area of the track at Bahrain International Circuit.

It wasn’t the only oddity of the day.

In the morning session, there was a brief red flag after a pane of glass fell from the starter’s box and shattered on the edge of the track. Workers quickly arrived with brooms and swept up the shards.

George Russell posted the fastest time on the final day of Formula 1 preseason testing.

The Mercedes driver ended F1’s three days of testing by beating Max Verstappen, who was 0.021 of a second off the pace at Bahrain International Circuit.

Red Bull’s Verstappen and Williams’ Alex Albon drove in both sessions Friday, and Albon was third fastest on the day, followed by McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Alpine’s Pierre Gasly.

Lewis Hamilton was sixth for Ferrari, 0.800 behind his former Mercedes teammate. Hamilton’s new teammate, Charles Leclerc, led the morning session and was ninth fastest on the day.

Hamilton, the seven-time champion who joined Ferrari this year, downplayed results from testing, when teams experiment with fuel loads and tires.

“I’ve learned that you really can’t judge too much from the first outlook,” the 40-year-old Hamilton said. “I definitely think in past years, particularly in the previous generation of car, it was much easier to know where you stood quite early on.

“But,” he continued, “I would say this is the most positive feeling that I’ve had in a long time. That’s all I can really say for now.”

The first race of the season is the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne on March 16.

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