Max Verstappen has picked up where he left off in November, topping the timesheets as pre-season testing got underway in Bahrain.

For the most part it was an uneventful morning, with the ten drivers on duty completing 601 laps in total.

Just minutes into the session, Felipe Drugovich, standing in for Lance Stroll, pulled off track at Turn 4 after suffering what is thought to be an electrical issue.

The session was red-flagged for just over twenty minutes costing Aston Martin and its rivals valuable track time.

While Verstappen - the only driver on duty for the entire day - had already set the pace - Sainz subsequently went quicker, the early phase dominated, as ever, by cars running ever more extraordinary aero rakes, particularly that on the Ferrari.

A number of drivers completed a lot of laps before actually posting a time, most notably Alex Albon and Oscar Piastri, while Guanyu Zhou left it late before posting his first time of the morning.

Ever since the launch that never was, Red Bull has been playing its cards very close to its chest, indeed other than a render tweeted shortly after the livery launch the world champions have yet to post a picture of their 2023 contender in action.

With the secrecy surrounding the car it is understandable therefore that it was, along with the Mercedes, the centre of attention. Having started last season around 20 kg overweight the teams claims to be much nearer the cut-off this time around.

All in all the RB19 looks good, and while Verstappen suffered a number of 'excursions', so too did a lot of the other drivers. Indeed, Hulkenberg damaged his floor after running over a kerb.

This time last year Mercedes already knew that it had a problem, and today the German team was clearly keen to see if this year's car was going to be any better.

Slow motion footage captured Sainz' Ferrari bouncing, while wires coming out of the top of Russell's steering wheel suggest that the German team is also measuring for movement.

It is far too early to even begin masking assumptions, but the good news is that reliability appears good, with most of the teams completing a race distance, while Williams and Alfa Romeo must be happy with their pace.

While Verstappen remains in the Red Bull this afternoon, it's all-change elsewhere, with Lewis Hamilton, Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris all getting their first taste of their 2023 contenders.

Check out our Thursday gallery from Bahrain, here.