Another Ferrari, another loose drain cover and red flag with Lewis Hamilton involved

Charles Leclerc tests the SF-24 in Bahrain.

Ferrari aren’t having much luck with drain covers these days, first Carlos Sainz in Las Vegas and now Charles Leclerc in Bahrain testing.

Putting in the laps on Thursday morning at the Sakhir circuit, the red flags were waved with a few moments of confusion as one by one the drivers returned to the pits.

However, replays of the action showed Leclerc dislodged a drain cover just on the other side of the kerbs at Turn 11 as he ran very wide, only for Lewis Hamilton, who was behind him on the track, to hit it.

Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton were involved in the drain cover incident

Leclerc returned to the pits, his Ferrari immediately hidden by screens, while the red flag meant the other nine drivers in action also pitted.

That included Hamilton, who’s Mercedes W15 was lifted onto the jacks for the team to examine the floor of the car.

Track officials were quickly on site at Turn 11, inspecting the hole left behind by the missing drain cover.

Marshals began the process of walking the track and checking every drain cover.

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This isn’t the first occasion in recent times that Ferrari have been involved in a drain cover incident with Carlos Sainz’s SF-23 destroyed when he hit one in the inaugural practice session for the Las Vegas Grand Prix.

The heavy piece of metal destroyed the floor of his Ferrari and punched a whole right through it that he could reportedly see the tarmac.