#F1 Bahrain Test Day 3: @SChecoPerez quickest on final day of running.

Perez quickest Bahrain three – Oracle Red Bull Racing’s Sergio Perez was quickest on day three of 2023 Formula 1 pre-season testing at the Bahrain International Circuit after Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc topped the morning session.

 

 

Leclerc’s early benchmark of a 1:31.024 was set on the C4 ref side-walled soft compounds and remained until the floodlights were lit across the track, when temperatures decreased, and the drivers fitted C4 and C5 softer tyres for shorter distance runs.

 

Perez shot to the top with a 1:30.305 on the C4’s – an effort, which was faster than last year’s pole position time – as Leclerc fell to fourth in the classification.

 

Saturday morning saw red flags waving as a sensor strip and a few pieces of carbon fibre came off Perez’s RB19. The Mexican managed a solid 133 laps on the mileage charts over Friday’s running in another productive and largely trouble-free day for the Milton Keynes-based outfit, as reigning world champion Max Verstappen watched from pit-lane.

 

Perez reflecting on his day of running stated:

 

“The last few days have been pretty intense, testing is very short, so it is very important to get the maximum out of it but overall, it worked really well; we got a good understanding of our car. Testing in Bahrain is very difficult because the track is changing every time you go out, the tarmac is very rough and just in general it’s varying conditions. I think we did the most we could today, we did a lot of analysis on set-up and tyre choice. We ran without any big problems, got a lot of laps in, and had good reliability in general. The Team back in Milton Keynes have done a tremendous job, we have a good-paced car and certainly think we can work on that more. We will only find out next week where we really are in terms of pace because over testing, we don’t get to see the full picture.” Perez concluded. Credit to Red Bull for the quote.

 

Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton was encouraged by the signs of improvement from his Brackley based-squad and used his F1 W14 to take P2 in the afternoon session, posting a 1:30.659 on the C5 soft rubber. The seven-time world champion also clocked 65 laps of mileage.

 

Hamilton looked on all days of testing and said:

 

“It has been an interesting few days here in Bahrain. There has been a lot of discovery and the whole team has approached it with the same mentality, working hard, not being complacent and staying focused. We’re not quite where we want to be but it’s a good platform to start from. We don’t know where we will be next week, but we will stay positive and continue to push to the maximum.” Hamilton concluded. Credit to Mercedes for the quote.

 

Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas jumped to third place late on using the C5 softer tyres, after team-mate Zhou Guanyu went quickest yesterday.

 

Bottas reflected on a solid three days of testing and explained:

 

“Overall, I am pretty satisfied with how these testing days have gone; the car felt good, and I reckon the feeling in the cockpit improved over the winter. We got plenty of laps in today, despite a technical issue which cost us some time. Thanks to the work of our mechanics, I was able to return to the track rather quickly and complete the whole programme we had set for ourselves for this final day: I am grateful for their effort, as well as for that of everyone back at the factory in Hinwil. I am looking forward to getting back on track in a week and finally get that racing feeling again.” Bottas concluded. Credit to Sauber Group for the quote.

 

Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz placed fifth behind team-mate Leclerc in the overall standings on the final day. The Spaniard also posted his 1:31.036 effort on the C5 compounds.

 

Starting with Leclerc, who’s programme today focused on car setup work and qualifying simulation runs said:

 

“We have three very intensive days of testing behind us. The first day was all about running big scans and trying to understand how well our data matches what we predicted at the factory. What we learned is that there is quite a good correlation. We focused a lot on set-up work this week and made some good steps forward. I also tried out some different driving styles to test what suits me best in this new car. We’ll be back next week for the opening race of the season, and it will be interesting to see where all teams stand in relation to their closest competitors.” Leclerc concluded. Credit to Ferrari for the quote.

 

Sainz added on his day, which saw the Spaniard complete qualifying simulation runs before doing a long-race run:

 

“We finished the test without any issues and completed the full run plan that we had for these three days. So first of all, thank you very much to the entire team here and in Maranello. Today we focused on both short and long runs to finish the assessment of some of the parameters that we wanted to test. Now we will focus on analysing the data, in order to arrive at the first GP of the year as well prepared as possible. I’m looking forward to racing here next week.” Sainz concluded. Credit to Ferrari for the quote.

 

Leclerc and Sainz completed 67 and 75 tours of mileage respectively as the Scuderia ran a solid 417 laps in total over the course of the three days running in a promising test for the Prancing Horse.

 

Scuderia AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda completed the top six, as the Japanese driver racked up 79 laps and was 0.956 seconds adrift of Perez’s time-topping benchmark.

 

Tsunoda reflected on the test overall stating:

 

“We’ve had a productive three days of testing, where we gathered a lot of good data for the season. Today was my first afternoon session for this test, and I was happy with the quality of my driving during performance runs and my feedback to the team. We found some limitations, but looking deeper into it, I am certain the team and I will be able to improve in these areas to make the performance stronger. We’ll be working to keep this momentum going into next week and I hope we can achieve good results for the coming races. As always, it’s a tight midfield, but it’s difficult to compare ourselves to the other teams without knowing what programmes they were running. I’ll rest up, so that I am able to give 100 per cent for the race next week.” Tsunoda concluded. Credit to AlphaTauri for the quote.

 

MoneyGram Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen placed seventh in the classification running the C4’s, whilst team-mate Nico Hulkenberg was 15th using the C3’s, having his stint in the morning session.

 

Behind Magnussen was Mercedes’ George Russell who ended his final day of testing in eighth place with the Briton’s best effort a 1:31.442 and over 1.137 seconds off Perez. Russell also clocked up 83 laps of mileage.

 

Aston Martin pairing of Fernando Alonso and reserve Felipe Drugovich rounded out the top ten with both drivers doing a combined total of 157 laps.

 

Alonso commented on his day and the test overall saying:

 

“It was a good day for us with lots of laps and we have learned a lot about the new car. But it is only testing, and we do not know what everyone else is doing so there are still many questions to answer. We have missed having Lance here this week, but I have to say Felipe adapted very well and did a good job. Overall, the car felt competitive across the three days, but we need to compare to the others next week. There is a lot of potential left for us to unlock and I think we are in a decent place heading into next week. Our goal is to make a step forward from last year and we will take things step by step.” Alonso concluded. Credit to Aston Martin for the quote.

 

McLaren’s wheel brows threatened to detach from the MCL60, but the team stated it was a “minor issue”, which will be fixed for next weekend’s season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix. In the evening session, Lando Norris finished 11th in the order on C3’s setting a 1:32.160 effort with a low 37 laps of mileage whilst his team-mate Oscar Piastri suffered a spin at turn nine and wound-up 16th. The Australian completed 44 laps of mileage and was 3.350 seconds adrift of Perez’s benchmark.

 

Norris reflected on all days of testing:

 

“A decent three days here in Bahrain. First of all it’s good to be back in a car. Second of all a big improvement from our test last year, getting so many laps under our belt, so the team have done a good job, a big thanks goes to them. We know there’s a few things we still need to improve on, but we’re in a reasonable place heading into race week. We’ve gathered a lot of data, which we’ll be analysing thoroughly ahead of next week. We’ll be working hard to get as much lap time out of the car and look to get the development of the MCL60 underway.” Norris concluded. Credit to McLaren for the quote.

 

BWT Alpine F1 Team’s Pierre Gasly piloted the A523 in the morning and ended the session 12th overall before team-mate Esteban Ocon ran in the afternoon/evening session taking 14th.

 

Splitting the duo was Williams Racing’s Alexander Albon who lead the individual mileage charts with a huge 136 laps with his best effort a 1:32.793.

 

Albon speaking on his day and testing as a whole:

 

“In terms of mileage, we’ve had a very good three days, we’ve ticked everything we wanted to tick off and completed our race and qualifying runs. Now it’s about going through the data and seeing what we’ve got. We’re definitely in a better place in comparison to this time last year, it’s just more about how far we can take it.” Albon concluded. Credit to Williams for the quote.

 

The Williams pairing of Albon and Logan Sargeant helped achieve the second-highest amount of laps in pre-season testing with a combined total of 439.

 

Scuderia AlphaTauri’s Nyck de Vries brought up the rear with 87 laps of mileage and was 7.939 seconds off of Perez’s benchmark as Sargeant, Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu (who topped the overall time-sheets yesterday) and Verstappen (topped the opening day of testing) sat out Saturday having completed their programmes.

 

2023 Formula 1 Pre-Season Testing, Day 3 Classification

 

 

Watch the highlights of the final day of 2023 Formula 1 Pre-Season Testing at the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYfgBZwdFLI

 

The season begins Friday March 3-Sunday March 5 right here at the Bahrain International Circuit for the opening race of the calendar, the Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix 2023.

 

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Catch up on day one and two of pre-season testing at the links below:

 

#F1 Bahrain Test Day 2: @ZhouGuanyu24 tops time-sheets as @GeorgeRussell63 stops on track.

#F1 Bahrain Test Day 1: @Max33Verstappen edges out @alo_oficial.