The reigning F1 world champion officially debuted the new-look Red Bull RB20, with its Mercedes-style sidepods, and he didn’t take long to return to his familiar top spot on the timesheet.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc put in a 1m33.685s as an early representative benchmark, but midway through the morning session Verstappen surged to the top on C3 compound tyres, with a 1m32.548s ending up his best effort.
That lap time is already three-tenths faster than Verstappen’s best that he topped the times with on the opening day of last year’s pre-season test.
Albon was the only driver to hit significant trouble on the track, as he stopped on the exit of Turn 2 after his Williams lost power going down the main straight with just 20 minutes to go in the morning session.
Williams is currently investigating the issue which saw Albon’s FW46 initially cut out and then fail to refire.
Leclerc’s best lap of 1m33.247s was enough to give him second place on the times, nearly seven-tenths of a second off Verstappen, with Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso in third a further one-tenth back.
Source: Autosport