Le Pays De France - No sidepod, no problem for Mercedes despite 'extreme interpretation

Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton and teammate George Russell debuted the new-look Mercedes in testing in Bahrain on Thursday.

Pierre Gasly in an AlphaTauri topped the time charts followed by the two Ferraris of Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc.

However, it was championship heavyweights Mercedes and Red Bull who grabbed the headlines.

Red Bull team chief Christian Horner was reported to have questioned the legality of the design in an interview with Auto Motor und Sport in Germany.

He was also said to have described the design as not in the "spirit" of the sport.

"Christian Horner has not given any interviews regarding Mercedes car," said a team spokesman.

"Any quotes being attributed to him this morning are incorrect."

Journalist Andreas Haupt, however, took to Twitter to defend the German outlet's story

"We spoke with Horner in the paddock today. You can trust us."

Horner himself told Sky Sports F1: "I was slightly surprised to be reading comments I'm supposed to have been making, but there we go."

Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff defended his 'no sidepod' design despite the controversy sparking a new round of paddock politics.

"It's clear that sometimes when you come with an innovation it creates the kind of debate that we're having here. That's why that was expected," he told reporters.

Formula One sporting director Ross Brawn admitted that the design was a hot talking point with the new season to get underway at the same Sakhir circuit on March 20.

"I think it's impossible to anticipate the creative scope of the teams, once they get the regs, you've got thousands of engineers working on all the regulations and how they can use them," said Brawn.

"So some of the solutions honestly we never anticipated. I think there's no doubt that the Mercedes concept, we didn't anticipate.

- 'Extreme' -

"It's a very extreme interpretation of the regulation and I think there's going to be, inevitably, a lot of debate about their interpretation and that's what happens with new regs."

He added: "I think our initial impressions are there's nothing here we would be overly concerned about in terms of those objectives of the regulations."

Russell, in his first season with Mercedes, put the debate in perspective.

"It looks interesting I guess but it's not about how it looks, it's about how fast it goes," said the Briton.

Four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel used the first of three days of testing to protest against Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The Aston Martin driver had a Ukraine flag emblazoned on his helmet and a dove -- the symbol of peace -- with the words "Peace and Love", "No war" and the words to John Lennon's song "Imagine".

F1 has already terminated Russia's Grand Prix contract and it went a step further on Thursday by turning the lights out on its live coverage in the country.

Testing continues Friday and Saturday with the season opening in Bahrain on March 20.

First day test times on Thursday:

1. Pierre Gasly (FRA/AlphaTauri) 1:33.902 (103 laps) 2. Carlos Sainz (ESP/Ferrari) 1:34.359 (52), 3. Charles Leclerc (MON/Ferrari) 1:34.531 (64), 4. Lance Stroll (CAN/Aston Martin) 1:34.736 (50), 5. Alexander Albon (THA/Williams) 1:35.070 (104), 6. Lando Norris (GBR/McLaren) 1:35.356 (50), 7. Valtteri Bottas (FIN/Alfa Romeo) 1:35.495 (66), 8. Sebastian Vettel (GER/Aston Martin) 1:35.706 (39), 9. George Russell (GBR/Mercedes) 1:35.941 (60), 10. Sergio Perez (MEX/Red Bull) 1:35.977 (138), 11. Lewis Hamilton (GBR/Mercedes) 1:36.365 (62), 12. Fernando Alonso (ESP/Alpine) 1:36.745 (24), 13. Esteban Ocon (FRA/Alpine) 1:36.768 (42), 14. Guanyu Zhou (CHI/Alfa Romeo) 1:37.164 (54), 15. Pietro Fittipaldi (BRA/Haas) 1:37.422 (47)

(V.Blanchet--LPdF)