Sakhir F1 test, Day 3: Verstappen quickest on final day of testing

Ahead of season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix 

By Franck Drui

12 March 2022 - 17:29
Sakhir F1 test, Day 3: Verstappen (…)

Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen set the fastest time of the three days of running in Sakhir as Formula 1 pre-season testing came to an end at the Bahrain International Circuit.

Verstappen, driving in the afternoon after team-mate Sergio Pérez topped the morning session, completed 53 laps at the wheel of an updated RB18 featuring revised sidepods.

The World Champion didn’t appear for most of the first hours of the later session but when he did he gradually began to work his way to the best time of the three days overall as he cycled through various tyre compounds. He set a 1:32.645 on C3 medium tyres and later moved to the softest C5 rubber to set his best lap of 1:31.720.

That put him almost seven tenths of a second ahead of second placed Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc. The Monegasque driver’s best lap was delivered on the C4 compound. He did try the C5 tyres but despite setting a purple middle sector he flagged late in the lap and was slower.

Third place in the session went to Alpine’s Fernando Alonso. The Spaniard left his best to the end of the session fitting C4 tyres in the final five minutes of the session to set personal bests in each sector to stand as one of just two drivers to get within a second of Verstappen’s time. George Russell was fourth with a time of 1:32.759 that left him 1.039 behind Verstappen and the new Mercedes recruit looked to be battling the mishandling car throughout the lap.

Behind Russell, Valtteri Bottas was fifth for Alfa Romeo. The Finn used C3 Pirelli tyres to set a best time of 1:32.985 but his running early when he stopped outside the Turn 8 due to a gearbox issue.

AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda took fifth place as the Italian squad closed out a solid test phase. The Japanese driver, who completed 57 laps, finished two hundredths of a second behind Bottas, while team-mate Pierre Gasly logged 91 laps on the team’s final day.

After setting the fastest lap of the morning, Sergio Pérez was left with seventh place at the close of running, five hundredths of a second ahead of Haas’s Mick Schumacher, who briefly brought out the red flags in the afternoon after he spun.

Lando Norris ended the day in ninth place for McLaren and after taking over from Lance Stroll at Aston Martin, Sebastian Vettel finished with the day’s 10th quickest time.

Pos.DriverCarTimeLaps
01 Max Verstappen Red Bull RBP RB18 1:31.720 53
02 Charles Leclerc Ferrari F1-75 1:32.415 51
03 Fernando Alonso Alpine Renault A522 1:32.698 122
04 George Russell Mercedes W13 1:32.759 71
05 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo Ferrari C42 1:32.985 68
06 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri RBP AT03 1:33.002 57
07 Sergio Perez Red Bull RBP RB18 1:33.105 43
08 Mick Schumacher Haas Ferrari VF-22 1:33.151 57
09 Lando Norris McLaren Mercedes MCL36 1:33.191 90
10 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin Mercedes AMR22 1:33.821 81
11 Guanyu Zhou Alfa Romeo Ferrari C42 1:33.959 82
12 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri RBP AT03 1:34.865 91
13 Carlos Sainz Ferrari F1-75 1:34.905 68
14 Alex Albon Williams Mercedes FW44 1:35.171 18
15 Nicholas Latifi Williams Mercedes FW44 1:35.634 124
16 Lance Stroll Aston Martin Mercedes AMR22 1:36.029 53
17 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes W13 1:36.217 78
18 Kevin Magnussen Haas Ferrari VF-22 1:38.616 38

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