24 February 2023 , 12:08
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Friday morning's Formula 1 testing session in Bahrain ended in bizarre fashion as a botched race restart simulation almost led to a pile-up on the start-finish straight.
The first session of day two of pre-season testing at the Bahrain International Circuit went off mostly without a hitch. Carlos Sainz set the quickest time of the session – though lap times are largely irrelevant at this stage with teams all on different testing setups and some hiding their car's true potential.
But it ended with a very strange moment as a red flag test almost went horribly wrong. In the final few minutes of the morning session, the teams were told that they were going to be practicing what to do in such a situation.
It is an ideal refresher for the experienced F1 drivers after a few months away, and also good learning for the rookies on the grid this year. But few of them took it seriously – almost causing a collision on the start-finish straight.
After a simulated red flag, the cars all ambled around the circuit to line up on the start line. The first race start was aborted on purpose so the drivers could practice what to do in that situation and they all duly embarked upon another formation lap, as is procedure.
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But when the lights went out for real the second time, only three of the racers used it as an opportunity to practice an actual race start. Kevin Magnussen, who had lined up in the pole grid slot, flew off down the straight while both Sainz and Lewis Hamilton also set off at the right time.
Carlos Sainz had to quickly avoid running into the back of Lando Norris who did not move off the line (Sky Sports F1)But everybody else remained stationary in their grid boxes, forcing Sainz and Hamilton to stop earlier than planned. The Spaniard in particular had to be sharp on the brakes to avoid hitting the back of Lando Norris, who had lined up in front of him but simply not set off when the lights went out.
Sky Sports pundit Anthony Davidson was commentating on the race start as if it was the real thing, poking fun at the broadcaster's main commentator David Croft by imitating his voice. He said: "Lights out and away we go, and a fantastic start... oh, he's stopped! What's happening here in Bahrain? It's chaos, ladies and gentlemen."
But on a more serious note shortly after, as the session was red flagged for real, both noted that it was actually a fairly hairy situation. "It was dangerous, wasn't it?" said Croft as Davidson questioned: "Why didn't Lando go?"