Verstappen sets ominous pace as F1 starts testing in Bahrain

:Triple Formula One world champion Max Verstappen set an ominous pace as Red Bull, dominant last year, picked up where they left off on the first day of pre-season testing in Bahrain on Wednesday.

Even if the timesheets could be easily dismissed, with teams running different programmes, there was no denying that the new Red Bull already looked a step up from last year's RB19.

Verstappen was comfortably faster than the quickest lap of the opening day of 2023 testing, completing 143 laps - two race distances - and wrapping up 1.140 clear of closest rival Lando Norris in the McLaren.

The Dutch driver's best lap of one minute 31.344 seconds under the evening floodlights compared to last year's opening day best of 1:32.837 at the same circuit.

"It feels good to be back in an F1 car again and I had fun out on track today," said Verstappen.

"We covered a lot of laps and tried quite a few things with the car, which was important, so happy overall with how it went.

"After the winter break, the first few laps always surprise you a little but then you get back into the swing of things pretty quickly."

The sense of business as usual contrasted with the uncertainty surrounding Verstappen's team boss Christian Horner, who has denied allegations of inappropriate behaviour levelled against him by a female employee.

Horner was attending the test at Sakhir.

Verstappen, who won a record 19 of 22 races last season with Red Bull's Sergio Perez winning two more, also topped the morning session in 1:32.548 when he completed 65 laps without any problem.

"We came to Bahrain with a few unknowns around a relatively new car but we have tested most of the fundamentals on day one and got the answers we needed to," said his race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase.