Stray bus and smashed window bring bizarre stoppages on final day of F1 pre-season testing

Red flags were waved around the Sakhir circuit at the start of this afternoon’s F1 pre-season testing session after a bus appeared on the side of the circuit.

Just ten minutes into the final afternoon of testing, the session was called to a halt as a white bus appeared in the run-off area to a heavy braking zone.

Cars were back out on track within a few minutes, but there’s no explanation as yet of how the bus managed to make its way into a live F1 testing session.

It was the second unusual stoppage of the day, after the morning session was stopped when a window fell out of a platform next to the finish line and smashed across the track.

That interrupted a morning of steady running for most teams, as the clock ticked down on the final day of testing, it wasn’t smooth sailing for all.

A brief red flag for a bus on the track in testing in the run-off area 🚩 pic.twitter.com/F9gY5sl9p9

— Sky Sports F1 (@SkySportsF1) February 28, 2025

Oliver Bearman lost a chunk of his Haas’s engine cover at speed on the main straight and had to limp back to the pits for repair work, while Gabriel Bortoleto was stuck in his garage for more than an hour and a half, with work going on behind screens.

Charles Leclerc ended the morning with the fastest lap at 1min 30.811sec, having been at the top of the time-sheets since the first minutes of the session. He was closely followed by Mercedes rookie Kimi Antonelli, and then Lando Norris.

Norris was one of the many drivers to be caught out by the windy conditions on track when his car slid at Turn 4 and he ran onto the separate Inner Track, having to find reverse to get back onto the live circuit. The Brit had cited oversteer issues, which could be have been the cause for that and another off.

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen ran a different front nose cone to the previous days as rumours continue of big upgrades arriving on the car in the coming races – he was fourth fastest.

Behind the ‘Big Four’ of Ferrari, Mercedes, Norris and Red Bull, Jack Doohan was fifth quickest for Alpine, two tenths clear of Alex Albon’s Williams.

New Racing Bulls signing Isack Hadjar was seventh, managing a lap 0.3sec ahead of Fernando Alonso, who was subbing for unwell Aston Martin team-mate Lance Stroll. The Canadian may appear this afternoon.

Bearman and Bortoleto brought up the rear, as the Brit set Haas’s fastest time of the weekend so far with a 1min 32.361sec lap.

Hadjar was the man with most laps run on 73, with Leclerc next on 66. Courtesy of being stuck in the Sauber pits, Bortoleto had the least productive morning on 35 laps.

F1 2025 pre-season testing Day 3 morning times