Williams and Haas became the first teams to run their cars in Bahrain as the FW46 and the VF-24 consecutively made their track debut as part of a shakedown ahead of pre-season testing.

Haas, however, have given their VF-24 an initial shakedown in the hand of Nico Hulkenberg at Silverstone, but it was Kevin Magnussen who got his first taste of his 2024 Formula 1 ride in Bahrain.

As for Williams, it was the first time the team ran the FW46, bucking the trend of running the cars initially at Silverstone, a decision team boss James Vowles labeled as strategic.

“We could easily have run there, but there is balance between doing a virtual track test and Silverstone,” Vowles said. “I’d much rather want to spend time dedicated to the virtual track test and then basically film it, rather than shake it down, in Bahrain.

“Silverstone, I have several feelings towards it. I’ve done it for a number of years, and sometimes you get some really good things out of it. Sometimes you’re running around on extreme wet tyres in blustery conditions with your pit equipment falling over and you don’t learn a single thing.

“And that balance means I’d much rather do virtual track testing and then bring the car to Bahrain where we can do that properly, and then furthermore, save that filming day for later in the year where we either need footage or we need some other questions to be answered,” Vowles concluded.

It was Logan Sargeant who seemed to be the first of the Williams drivers to test the new car, as the footage showed he car exiting the garage having the #2 on it, Sargeant’s number.

THE FW46 ROLLS OUT IN BAHRAIN 🤩

— WILLIAMS RACING FEBRUARY 20, 2024

As for Magnussen, he completed his first 200km at the wheel of the Haas VF-24, having had to wait patiently since the launch of the car until now to jump into the cockpit