Bahrain F1 Testing Day 3: Red Bull fire early warning shot
F1 NewsSaturday, 25 February 2023 at 17:50
Red Bull finished the three-day Formula 1 pre-season test in Bahrain fastest of all showing they are still the team to beat in the upcoming 2023 season.
Naturally testing does not give a clear and definitive indication on the pace of each F1 car, or the pecking order, but there are signs which one can rely on to get a hint of what is in store for the coming season.
Sergio Perez was on driving duty all day for Red Bull completing 133 laps, and clocking the fastest time over the three-day test, a 1:30.305 which he set on the C4 Pirelli compound.
For reference, the pole time in Bahrain in 2022 set by Charles Leclerc was a 1:30.588 which was set on the harder C3 tyres. This shows that the times in this year's test are not still in the range of last year's qualifying, but nevertheless, it shows Red Bull are on it.
Behind Perez was Lewis Hamilton in the Mercedes, the Briton 0.359s slower, his time set on C5 compound which means the gap would've been bigger had the same tyre compounds been used.
The W14 is not bouncing around like the W13, but from what we're seen, it was a bit twitchy in the hands of Hamilton who racked up 65 laps on the final afternoon of testing.
Valtteri Bottas whose Alfa Romeo broke down towards the end of the morning session, bounced back to complete a total of 131 on the final day, while going third fastest with a 1:30.827.
Ferrari not chasing lap times on the final day of the test
Fourth and fifth went to the Ferrari duo, Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz respectively, the latter driving in the afternoon and registering a time of 1:31.036, 0.012s slower than his teammate with 76 laps. Ferrari's total lap tally on the final day is 143.
Yuki Tsunoda who took over from Nyck de Vries after the lunch break was sixth fastest for AlphaTauri with a 1:31.261 and 79 laps of his own added to his teammate's 87. A decent lap count for the Faenza outfit.
Kevin Magnussen who replace Nico Hulkenberg in the afternoon at Haas was seventh fastest, 0.120s behind the Japanese driver with a massive 94 laps which added to Hulkenberg's 77 makes for an impressive day for the U.S. team.
Fernando Alonso who handled the final afternoon was ninth fastest behind George Russell, eighth, the Briton setting his time in the morning session. Alonso's best time was a 1:31.450 in what seems to be an improved Aston Martin with 80 laps to his name.
It was another frustrating session for McLaren as Lando Norris completed only 37 laps on his way to 11th fastest time, 1.855s away from the best.
Alex Albon continued the driving duties for Williams on the final day driving 136 times around the Bahrain International Circuit, ending up 13th fastest with a 1:32.793.
Esteban Ocon added 76 laps to Alpine's 56 driven by Pierre Gasly in the morning session, the former ending up 14th fastest, 0.495s slower than his teammate.
With this now focus will be on next weekend, when the 2023 F1 season will seriously begin with the 2023 Bahrain Grand Prix.
Bahrain F1 Testing – Day 3 – Afternoon Session – Official Times
What happened earlier in the morning session
Charles Leclerc finished his final test run with Ferrari on the morning of the final day of Bahrain's Formula 1 pre-season test fastest of all in the SF-23.
Leclerc will hand the SF-23 over teammate Carlos Sainz for the final afternoon testing session in Sakhir, as all ten F1 teams will start getting ready for the season opener, in Bahrain as well, in a less than a week's time.
Driving also in the morning session was George Russell in the Mercedes, with Lewis Hamilton taking over after the break, while Pierre Gasly did the running for Alpine with Esteban Ocon doing the afternoon driving for the French team.
Oscar Piastri drives first for McLaren with Lando Norris set to conclude the team's test, while Valtteri Bottas will be on full day duty at Alfa Romeo.
Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen share Haas' VF-23, the German driving in the morning, Nyck de Vries will drive the AlphaTauri AT04 first, Yuki Tsunoda taking over in the PM.
Sergio Perez will be the only Red Bull driver on driving duty, the same applying for Alex Albon in the Williams.
As for Aston Martin, and after Fernando Alonso drove the full second day of the test, the team handed the AMR23 to their reserve driver and 2022 Formula 2 Champion Felipe Drugovich on the morning of the last day of the test, the Spaniard set for an afternoon drive.
It seems Aston Martin may be giving Drugovich some needed mileage in case Lance Stroll, who skipped the test after sustaining injuries in a cycling accident, with the nature or severity of the Canadian's injuries not disclosed neither by him nor the team, despite Mike Krack insisting Stroll's absence from Bahrain testing was merely precautionary.
The morning of the final testing day in Bahrain
As mentioned, Leclerc went fastest of all in the Ferrari SF-23, clocking a 1:31.024 after running 67 laps, and was 0.418s ahead of Russell who was second in the Mercedes having accumulated 83 laps.
It was a decent recovery from Mercedes after the hydraulic issues they suffered on Friday.
Third fastest was Drugovich in the Aston Martin, with a 1:32.075, and drove the AMR23 for 77 laps, and was almost four tenths faster than fourth fastest Perez in the Red Bull, the Mexican having a lap count of 69.
Next was Gasly in the Alpine, fifth fastest with a 1:32.762 and 56 laps. The Frenchman was 0.031s faster than Albon, sixth with 53 laps under his belt.
Nico Hulkenberg was seventh fastest in the Haas and a whopping 2.305s away from Leclerc's lap time, but the German enjoyed an impressive 77 laps in the VF-23.
It was another troubled session for McLaren with Piastri at the wheel, spinning at the start of the session and then spending extensive time in the team garage as the team seemed to be sorting some issue with their wheel brows.
The Australian ended the morning test session eighth fastest with a lap time of 1:33655, with only 44 laps on the board.
Bottas caused a Red Flag during the session as his Alfa Romeo halted on track with almost 80 minutes remaining from the test. He was ninth fastest in the end, and managed 72 laps.
Slowest of all was De Vries in the AlphaTauri with a 1:38.244, but the Dutchman racked up the most laps of all, a respectable 87 laps.
Other than Piastri's spin and Bottas' break down, the session was drama free with ten F1 cars pounding laps around Bahrain International Circuit.
Bahrain F1 Testing – Day 2 – Morning Session – Official Times
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