Second morning of F1 testing in Bahrain cut short due to loose drain cover

Lewis Hamilton in action in Bahrain on the second day (Darko Bandic/AP)

Formula One’s second morning of testing was cancelled after a loose drain cover struck Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes and the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc.

Both Hamilton and Leclerc hit the debris at Turn 11 in Bahrain, and the running was red-flagged with one hour and 40 minutes remaining.

Circuit officials attempted to repair the track, but after a delay of nearly 40 minutes, it was announced that the running would not resume.

🚨 Session will not be resumed 🚨

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

— Formula 1 (@F1) February 22, 2024

The one-hour lunch break, was brought forward by an hour. The afternoon session will now run for five hours, instead of four, starting one hour earlier than planned at 2pm local time (11am GMT).

Ferrari said the impact caused damage to the floor of Leclerc’s Ferrari, which has since been replaced.

It is unclear at this stage how extensive the damage was to Hamilton’s Mercedes.

Both Hamilton and Leclerc were unharmed in the incidents.

The morning session has been cut short for track repairs so we’re getting an early lunch 🥙

We’ve been working steadily through our programme with 39 laps on the board so far today 👏 pic.twitter.com/5197KsIqOl

— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) February 22, 2024

Last November, a water valve cover broke free from the newly-laid tarmac of the Las Vegas street circuit and tore into the underbelly of Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari at 210mph.

Speaking at the time, Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur called the incident “unacceptable”.

Hamilton, competing in his final season for Mercedes ahead of his switch to Ferrari, is scheduled to be behind the wheel of his new machine all day. He was sixth when the red flag was deployed.

Max Verstappen finished fastest on Wednesday. The test concludes on Friday ahead of next Saturday’s first round of the season, also in the Gulf kingdom.