F1 pre-season testing was suspended on Friday due to a bizarre incident involving shattered glass on track in Bahrain - and another incident involving a random bus on track.
Two days after the red flag was thrown after a power outage at the circuit, the morning session on the final day was paused with just under an hour to go.
Footage quickly showed the reason, with a heap of shattered glass on the start-finish straight at the Bahrain International Circuit.
🔴 RED FLAG 🔴
— Formula 1 (@F1) February 28, 2025
Debris on the start/finish straight - looks like a pane of glass from the starter's booth has fallen onto the track #F1Testing #F1 pic.twitter.com/Fi4UOHCAap
The start-finish box, hovering above the circuit, is used to control the starting grid and lights, with footage showing the window of the start-finish box missing on Friday morning.
No more detail has been given yet. The session resumed 10 minutes later.
At the start of the afternoon session, there was also a brief red flag after a bus randomly appeared in a run-off area on the circuit.
Charles Leclerc topped the timesheet early on Friday, with Mercedes’s Kimi Antonelli in second and McLaren’s Lando Norris in third.
Four-time world champion Max Verstappen was fourth-fastest.
Lewis Hamilton drives for Ferrari later on Friday. The first race of the season is in two weeks in Australia (14-16 March).
