It’s the final day of pre-season testing in Bahrain, meaning the teams have just 8 hours of track time left to get as much information as possible out of their new machines ahead of the season opener on March 28.
Throughout the weekend, there has been plenty of action on track, including a number of gearbox issues, plenty of off-track skids and just a couple of red-flags halting the sessions, however, day three is showing improvements across the board with all 10 teams running well so far.
Hitting the top of the current time charts is Red Bull’s newcomer, Sergio Perez, who crossed the line at 1:30.187s, passing out the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc and the McLaren of Lando Norris who both found themselves in and out of the top spot this morning.
That’s @SChecoPerez done for pre-season #F1Testing ✅ Completing 49 laps for the morning with a fastest time of 1:30.187 🤘🏁 pic.twitter.com/u13MOB6Dyf
— Red Bull Racing (@redbullracing) March 14, 2021
Second place is currently held by Charles Leclerc who finished 49 laps today and locked in his fastest lap on the medium Pirellis, followed by Lando Norris crossing the line third fastest on the same compound, after 56 laps.
AlphaTauri drivers have been consistently present at the top of the timesheets amid preseason testing, and Pierre Gasly managed to bring his AT02 up to fourth on the C4 soft tyre, by the end of the first half of the day.
and that's the end of @PierreGASLY's pre-season 👊
another solid morning of running with 75 laps under the belt finishing in P4 😎 pic.twitter.com/BL9sr7Z9Eo
— Scuderia AlphaTauri (@AlphaTauriF1) March 14, 2021
Mercedes surprised spectators with a number of issues on the W12 this weekend while struggling with pace and grip throughout, and while Valtteri Bottas finished out Saturday testing as the fastest on track, Sunday has so far dealt a different fate for the world champions who are currently sitting in 7th, +2.219s off the pace.
So that sees the end of pre-season track time for Perez, Leclerc, Norris, Gasly, Ocon, Schumacher, Bottas, and Stroll, whose respective teammates will jump behind the wheel later this afternoon.
The afternoon session kicks off at 11:55 am, until then, here are the full results from this morning’s run:
1. Sergio Perez, Red Bull, 1:30.187, 49 laps, soft tyres (C4)
2. Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, +0.299, 80 laps, medium tyres (C3)
3. Lando Norris, McLaren, +0.474, 56 laps, medium tyres (C3)
4. Pierre Gasly, AlphaTauri, +0.641, 76 laps, soft tyres (C4)
5. Esteban Ocon, Alpine, +1.123, 61 laps, medium tyres (C3)
6. Mick Schumacher, Haas, +1.866, 78 laps, medium tyres (C3)
7. Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes, +2.219, 86 laps, medium tyres (C3)
8. George Russell, Williams, +2.544, 77 laps, hard tyres (C2)
9. Kimi Raikkonen, Alfa Romeo, +5.087, 91 laps, hard tyres (C2)
10. Lance Stroll, Aston Martin, +5.913, 80 laps, medium tyres (C3)
