Excited to see how George Russell gets on with a full season behind the wheel of the Mercedes.

I remember chatting to Russell over zoom about his sim-racing set up at the height of the coronavirus pandemic. A strange old time.

Max Verstappen has company now with the Mercedes and a couple of others out there.

George Russell does a 1:21.125 to move up to second.

Max Verstappen currently has the track to himself with everyone else back in their respective garages. He did briefly have Lando Norris for company but he's since gone back in.

Image source, Getty Images

Alpine on Fernando Alonso's stop: "Fernando asked to stop the car on track after the car lost pressure in the final sector. It’s been recovered to the garage where we’ll investigate the issue further."

Image source, Getty Images

It is quite busy out there once again and no sooner have I published those latest times and there's a new name at the top of the order as reigning world champion Max Verstappen does a 1:21.192.

And here's the first full timesheet of the day...

1. Fernando Alonso (Alpine) 1:21.242 - 12 laps

2. Lando Norris (McLaren) 1:21.397 - nine laps

3. Max Verstappen (Red Bull) 1:22.614 - 13 laps

4. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) 1:22.778 - 11 laps

5. Sebastian Vettel (Aston Martin) 1:22.859 - 12 laps

6. Pierre Gasly (Alpha Tauri) 1:24.319 - 13 laps

7. George Russell (Mercedes) 1:24.592 - 17 laps

8. Guanyu Zhou (Alfa Romeo) 1:24.938 - seven laps

9. Nikita Mazepin (Haas) 1:31.204 - five laps

10. Alexander Albon (Williams) 1:46.860 - five laps

All sorted, the track is clear and cars are free to crack on once again.

Alpine confirm a loss of pressure as the reason for the stop.

Seems like a lot of smoke coming out of the Alpine as marshals work on getting it off the track.

It is never good to lose testing time because of an issue but then again this is an ideal time for things to go wrong so they can be sorted before the season gets under way for real.

Image source, Getty Images

Or was back out on the track a little earlier. Everyone is back at base at the moment as marshals deal with Fernando Alonso's Alpine.

Red flagpublished at 08:50 Greenwich Mean Time 25 February 2022

08:50 GMT 25 February 2022

And Fernando Alonso has brought out the first red flag of the session.

He's come to a stop at Turn 13.

I'll hopefully have a full rundown of the latest timings soon but Fernando Alonso currently leads the way with a 1:21.242.

Here's the first picture of the day of Nikita Mazepin in the Haas. As Andrew said earlier, they're running an all-white livery today, removing both the decals of their Russian-based sponsor - a company owned by Dmitry Mazepin, a close associate of Vladimir Putin - and also the red, white and blue colours of the car that were designed to reflect the Russian flag, even if the team never admitted it.

Image source, Getty Images

Lando Norris had the day off yesterday after setting the fastest time on day one.

That was a 1:19.568 and the best we've had so far today is 1:22.653 by Charles Leclerc, so effectively it is a morning amble for the drivers so far, much like my driving of this page until I've had a couple of cups of coffee (one down so far).

Mark Tyler: I'm a big L, externalewis Hamilton fan & would love to see him gain his 8th (9th) World Championship this season. However wouldn't it be awesome to see a season long scrap between @McLarenF1, external & @ScuderiaFerrari, external for the Championship. F1 sleeping giants back at the top.

Red Bull: Verstappen (AM) Perez (PM)

Mercedes: Russell (AM) Hamilton (PM)

Ferrari: Leclerc (AM) Sainz (PM)

McLaren: Norris (AM) Ricciardo (PM)

Alpine: Alonso (AM) Ocon (PM)

AlphaTauri: Gasly (AM) Tsunoda (PM)

Aston Martin: Vettel (AM) Stroll (PM)

Williams: Latifi (AM) Albon (PM)

Alfa Romeo: Zhou (AM) Bottas (PM)

Haas: Mazepin (AM) Schumacher (PM)