Loose drain cover causes havoc again on final day of Bahrain F1 test

A loose drain cover has put a halt on the final day of pre-season testing in Bahrain.

Within the first 40 minutes of running on Friday, race control were forced to put out a red flag due to a loose drain cover.

In similar fashion to day two, it came loose on the approach to Turn 11.

This time, it was Sergio Perez who dislodged the drain cover.

The session was soon red-flagged with work underway to ensure it is fixed ahead of a potential restart.

On day two of the test, approximately an hour was lost due to a loose drain cover as Charles Leclerc damaged his floor by going over it.

In terms of the track action, Carlos Sainz set the pace before the red flag with a 1m31.247s on the C3 tyre.

Sainz’s early time puts him 0.8s clear of Norris, who also set his best time on the C3 tyre. 

Alex Albon completed the top three, albeit 2.6s off the pace in the Williams.

The Thai driver will spend the entire day in the car after Logan Sargeant completed 117 laps on day two.

Perez, Kevin Magnussen, Lewis Hamilton and Daniel Ricciardo completed the timesheets before the red flag stoppage.