Red Bull on top as Perez and Verstappen fastest in F1’s final day of pre-season testing

Red Bull dominated as Sergio Perez topped the morning session with Max Verstappen quickest in the afternoon as F1 completed the final day of pre-season testing.

Morning

Charles Leclerc set a rapid time of 1:30.486 as the Ferrari leapt to the top of the timings with the AlphaTauri of Pierre Gasly trailing the Monegasque by seven and a half tenths.

Perez was seven-tenths slower than the Frenchman settling for third after the first hour. Mick Schumacher wasn’t too far behind the Mexican in fourth with Esteban Ocon trailing the rookie by about four-tenths as the Alpine driver was fifth.

After a good afternoon on Day Two, Valtteri Bottas was two seconds behind the Ferrari in sixth as George Russell stepped into the Williams and was seventh.

McLaren’s Lando Norris was a further second behind Russell in eighth with the pairing of Lance Stroll and Kimi Raikkonen slowest of all in ninth and 10th.

The Ferrari retained his top spot after the second hour as Perez hunted down the fastest lap with the Mexican four-tenths slower than Leclerc.

Gasly subsequently dropped down to third with Ocon moving ahead of Schumacher into fourth and relegating the German down to fifth.

Norris moved up to sixth ahead of Bottas with Russell dropping down to eighth. Stroll and Raikkonen were unable to set a quicker lap time and remained bottom of the pile.

At the end of the morning session, Perez topped the timings with a 1:30.187, the fastest lap of pre-season testing.

Leclerc was relegated down to second with Norris making his way up to third ahead of Gasly in fourth. The top four were separated by seven-tenths as the Red Bull of Perez stepped up and delivered a rapid time.

Ocon finished the morning in fifth ahead of rookie Schumacher in sixth. Bottas was ahead of temporary teammate from the Sakhir Grand Prix, Russell, in seventh with the Brit in eighth.

Raikkonen moved off bottom, ahead of Stroll in ninth as the Alfa Romeo completed the most laps in the morning with 91.

Afternoon

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Perez remained at the top in the first hour of the afternoon session. The Mexican retained his top spot with Leclerc in second and Norris in third.

Gasly retained fourth with Daniel Ricciardo jumping up to fifth after his first runs of the afternoon. Ocon dropped down to sixth with Alonso slotting into seventh, Raikkonen moving up to eighth as Max Verstappen and Nikita Mazepin completed the top 10.

Schumacher and Bottas dropped down to 11th and 12th as Russell was relegated down to 13th. The two Aston Martin’s of Sebastian Vettel and Stroll were 14th and 15th as Carlos Sainz and Yuki Tsunoda were placed in the last two positions of drivers who completed a timed lap.

Lewis Hamilton was yet to appear out of the pit-lane as the Mercedes crew look to take the first hour to get the car ready before getting their drivers out.

The Red Bull of the Mexican retained the top spot in the second hour as Leclerc retained second position with Ricciardo jumping into third ahead of McLaren teammate Norris in fourth.

Gasly dropped down to fifth with Alonso and Raikkonen both making up ground moving to sixth and seventh respectively.

Alonso’s teammate, Ocon, dropped down to eighth as Verstappen and Mazepin stayed in ninth and 10th. Schumacher, Bottas and Russell also remained in their positions from the first hour with Hamilton coming out of the garage and setting a time that only moved him to 14th.

Sainz made it up to 15th with Vettel in 16th, Tsunoda in 17th and Stroll bottom of the pile as his running finished after the morning session.

The fastest time swapped hands as Verstappen took it away from his Red Bull teammate who was relegated further down as Tsunoda and Ricciardo put faster laps than the Mexican.

Alonso and Raikkonen made up more ground as the two veterans closed in on the leading pack with the Spaniard only two-tenths slower than Perez in fifth and the Iceman one-tenth slower than the Alpine driver in sixth.

Leclerc dropped down to seventh aa Hamilton moved up to eighth with Norris and Gasly rounding off the top 10 as the final hour loomed.

The Ferrari of Sainz was 11th, Ocon in 12th, Mazepin in 13th, Russell in 14th, Schumacher in 15th, Bottas in 16th and the two Aston Martin’s of Vettel and Stroll in 17th and 18th.

The afternoon finished with Verstappen dipping into the 1:28’s as his lap time of 1:28.960 was the quickest fans have seen in the three days of pre-season testing.

Rookie Tsunoda was a tenth slower than the Dutchman with Sainz almost five-tenths slower than the Japanese youngster.

Raikkonen was two-tenths slower than the Ferrari in fourth as Hamilton trailed the Iceman by another two-tenths and was over a second slower than Verstappen.

Russell was not far away from the Mercedes driver in sixth as Ricciardo dropped down to seventh ahead of morning’s quickest man Perez in eighth with Alonso and Leclerc rounding off the top 10.

Norris was marginally slower than Leclerc and finished the afternoon in 11th with Gasly one-tenth slower than the McLaren.

Ocon was 13th, Mazepin in 14th ahead of teammate Schumacher in 15th with Bottas in 16th and the pair of Vettel and Stroll bottom of the pile as F1 completed pre-season testing ahead of the new season.

The Bahrain Grand Prix is in two weeks time as the teams prepare for a brand new season and with Lewis Hamilton looking for a record-breaking eighth Driver’s Championship.

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