Valtteri Bottas was supposed to do the laps in the Mercedes W12 on Friday morning at the Bahrain International Circuit and finish the early session before handing over to Lewis Hamilton for the afternoon.
But Bottas was only able to do one installation lap for Mercedes before the team discovered a problem with the gearshift.
Mercedes has set up the windows in front of the garage – only allowed if there is a problem with the car – and confirms in a brief statement that it is a transmission problem.
“We have a shift problem and we are swapping the gearbox to get back on track and then diagnosing the problem with the original packaging,” said the team.
Mercedes is expected to take around 45 to 60 minutes to complete the move before Bottas can hit the track again, which is an early setback given the limited testing time this year.
After the cars were incorporated into the regulations, the teams were limited to just three days of the preseason in 2021, which means that the drivers should run a maximum of 12 hours each.
Previously, Mercedes had unveiled the floor design of the W12 car, which sparked the fascination at the launch event when it moved to hide its concept.
All 10 teams were able to drive at least one lap on the track during the first hour of racing in Bahrain, with Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Räikkönen setting the first benchmark with a lap of 1: 34.686 minutes.
Charles Leclerc did the most laps in the opening hour for Ferrari, doing 17 with a variety of rakes and aero sensors on the rear of the SF21 car.
Some drivers had blockages at the strong braking points, with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen having the only big moment when he had a half-turn from Turn 2. The Dutchman was able to catch the car and avoid touching the gravel before continuing.
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