2023 F1 testing day 1 – Verstappen leads Alonso and Ferrari

Max Verstappen finished the first day of pre-season testing in first place for Red Bull with 147 laps completed in the first public appearance for the new RB19, with Fernando Alonso finishing second fastest for Aston Martin.

Verstappen set a time of 1:32.837 on the C3 compound of Pirelli tyres midway through the afternoon session to improve by a tenth on his time from the morning session, with the Dutchman the only driver to drive in both sessions.

Alonso took charge of the Aston Martin AMR22 in the afternoon and on fresh C3 tyres set a time 0.029s slower than Verstappen after Drugovich stopped on track after less than ten minutes in the morning with electrical problems and returned after an hour and a half.

Alonso also didn’t have an uninterrupted program due to damage to the floor, but he managed to drive 60 laps to Drugovich’s 40.

Ferrari took second and third with Sainz and Leclerc with 136 laps for the SF-23, Norris finished fifth for McLaren with just 40 laps while his new teammate Piastri didn’t complete many more laps (52) on his way to penultimate place.

Hamilton and Russell finished sixth and ninth with 152 laps for Mercedes, with Albon seventh for Williams ahead of Zhou in the Alfa Romeo.

Hulkenberg finished 11th in his F1 return with Haas ahead of Bottas in the Alfa and de Vries in the AlphaTauri, with Alpine’s Gasly and Ocon were 16th and 17th with a total of 113 laps.

Magnussen was last for Haas with a total of 108 laps for the American team.

DAY 1 RESULTS