Sergio Pérez and Oracle Red Bull Racing ended pre-season testing on top as the Mexican driver was able to top the timesheet on the third and final day of testing at the Bahrain International Circuit.
Charles Leclerc had set the fastest time of the morning session but come the evening session and the subsequent cooler temperatures that came along with it, Pérez’s time of a 1:30.305 on the C4 compound of tyre would be enough to ensure that Red Bull finished on top for the second time in a span of three days.
Notably, Perez’s fastest time around the Bahrain International Circuit on day three was over two and a half tenths quicker than Leclerc’s pole time at last season’s Bahrain Grand Prix.
A serious marker laid down by the RB19 as the Milton-Keynes-based team flexed their championship credentials for the 2023 FIA Formula 1 World Championship season across all three days of testing in Bahrain.
Lewis Hamilton’s 1:30.664 while running the C5 tyre was enough to ensure the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team driver finished second fastest. While George Russell, who manned the W14 in the morning session, finished with a fastest time of 1:31.442, placing the Mercedes driver in eighth place come the close of testing. An overall positive day for the Brackley-based team to close testing after both drivers finished outside the top-ten on Friday.
Despite a gearbox issue in the morning session, Alfa Romeo F1 Team Stake‘s Valtteri Bottas was able to finish inside the top three with a time of 1:30.827 on the C5 compound of tyre. The Finn operated the C43 across both sessions on the final day of testing, racking up one-hundred and thirty-one laps in total.
After topping the morning session, Leclerc would eventually fall to fourth place and was joined by his Scuderia Ferrari team-mate Carlos Sainz in fifth-place, who was unable to better his team-mate’s time despite running in the evening session for the Scuderia.
After finishing both day one and two outside the top fifteen, Yuki Tsunoda and Scuderia AlphaTauri were able to end testing on a high note as a time of 1:31.261 placed the twenty-two year old driver sixth fastest.
Behind Tsunoda in seventh place was Kevin Magnussen, the MoneyGram Haas F1 Team driver was able to finish just over a tenth of a second behind the Japanese driver to cement his place inside the top ten. Nico Hülkenberg rounded off Haas’ pre-season testing by running in the morning session and finishing in fifteenth place overall with a time of 1:33.329 on the C3 compound of tyre.
The Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One Team duo of Fernando Alonso and Felipe Drugovich rounded off the top ten, bringing an end to a positive three days of testing for the Silverstone-based team. Aston Martin’s fastest time of the day came in the evening session thanks to Alonso’s time of 1:31.450 on the C4 tyres.
McLaren F1 Team endured another tough day of testing at the Bahrain International Circuit as the MCL60’s wheel brows threatened to detach midway through the morning session. The team later stated it was a minor issue that they expect to be fixed by next weekend’s season opener. Lando Norris finished eleventh fastest with a time of 1:32.160, while Oscar Piastri finished sixteenth-fastest. McLaren racked up the least amount of laps of any team across the entirety of pre-season testing, leaving the team on the backfoot heading into the Bahrain Grand Prix.
The BWT Alpine F1 Team outfit of Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon finished twelfth and fourteenth respectively. Ocon appeared to be struggling with the balance of the A522 in the evening session, leaving the Frenchman half a second behind his new team-mate’s fastest time.
Alexander Albon was able to split the two Alpine drivers for Williams Racing. The Thai-driver joined Bottas and Pérez in being the sole operative of their team’s running for the final day. An impressive one-hundred and thirty-six laps across the day saw Albon complete the most laps of any driver on day three.
Running in the morning session, Nyck de Vries would round off the overall time sheet, finishing seventeenth fastest. The Dutchman undertook a day of race runs for AlphaTauri, ultimately finishing over seven seconds behind the fastest time of the day.
As the three days of pre-season testing came to a close, the FIA conducted a safety systems test with a practice rolling start on the grid, giving fans a glimpse of what we can expect to see out on track at next weekend’s Bahrain Grand Prix.
