F1 testing farce as random BUS drives on track forcing Lewis Hamilton and Co to abruptly stop

FORMULA One testing in Bahrain descended into chaos after a random BUS drove on the track and caused a sudden red flag.

A coach was spotted driving the wrong way in the run-off area at Turn 10 when F1 cars were on the track this afternoon.

Sky Sports

Shattered glass on the pit straight brought out a red flag[/caption]

Sky Sports

Track marshals were ushered in with brooms[/caption]

AP

Lewis Hamilton was on the track during the bus incident[/caption]

The incident happened at the start of the final four-hour session of 2025 pre-season testing.

After an hour-long break following the end of the first session of the day, the track was closed to all vehicles except for F1 cars.

But one bus driver clearly didn’t get the memo and caused the FOURTH red flag of the day.

The session was only a few minutes old when the red flags began to fly and the cars on track were ordered to return to the garage.

Lewis Hamilton hadn’t had the chance to record a time in the final session after enjoying a great driving day on Thursday.

TV cameras showed that a bus had managed to find its way on to the circuit, presenting a huge hazard if cars were to come around the corner.

So until it had left the circuit, all driving was temporarily suspended – leading to a stoppage that was fortunately only a few minutes long.

It comes after shattered glass on the pit-straight brought out the first red flag this morning.

CASINO SPECIAL – BEST CASINO BONUSES FROM £10 DEPOSITS

It later emerged that one of the panels from the start-finish box, where the chequered flag is normally waved, had broken and sprayed shards across the track.

That stoppage was a more lengthy one while marshals got to work on sweeping all the debris away. 

A commentator said: “This is a real pain. I’m sorry, but this is not something that should happen. It’s ridiculous.”

After the glass was cleared, testing commenced under a green flag again before it was suddenly suspended again.

According to Sky Sports, the second red flag was thrown in after a quad bike was spotted on the track.

After those two strange delays, eight of the 10 drivers in the morning session had little over half an hour left of their pre-season.

But in comical scenes, a vertical safety car and another red flag was thrown in for the third time this morning.

However on this occasion, it was a planned and precautionary flag procedure test from race control.

Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc topped the morning session timesheet with 1:30.811 in 52 laps.

This all comes after the first day of testing was hit with two shock incidents.

Sauber driver Nico Hulkenberg suffered a freak eye injury after a speck of dust or sand got stuck in his eye.

The unfortunate accident occurred as mechanics performed grinding work on Hulkenberg’s car in the garage, according to Sky.

Thankfully, Hulkenberg’s issue was not deemed to be serious and he was back in for Day 2.

Meanwhile, a shock power cut saw Hamilton’s first day at Ferrari halted on Wednesday.

A blackout hit the world’s most technically advanced sport.

Screens containing telemetry, and lights across the circuit, went out at 5.03pm local time (2.03pm GMT).

Mechanics worked with the help of torches in dark garages as the 10 drivers out on the track returned to the pits.

The new season kicks off in Melbourne at the Australian Grand Prix on March 16.