Power Cut Disrupts F1 Pre-Season Testing in Bahrain

Lando Norris led the first day of Formula One pre-season testing in Bahrain, despite a significant disruption caused by a power cut that halted track action for about an hour. The outage, triggered by an external substation failure, left garages and floodlights in darkness, prompting teams to rely on backup generators and torches. Norris eventually clocked a best time of 1:30.430, followed closely by other drivers including George Russell and Charles Leclerc, who achieved impressive lap times during the session. Lewis Hamilton made his debut for Ferrari, completing 70 laps and recording the fifth fastest time. Teams are now focused on maximizing their limited testing time before the 24-race season kicks off in Australia on March 16. The incident highlighted the potential chaos that could arise if similar issues occurred later in the day, as noted by George Russell.