Sergio Perez and Red Bull finished the 2023 Formula One pre-season on top as Mercedes’ Mexican Lewis Hamilton set the best time on the final day of winter testing in Bahrain.
Under the scorching sun, the opening period of the final opportunity to test ahead of next week’s Bahrain Grand Prix was dominated by longer runs, with Perez topping the leaderboard thanks to a 1m31.714s on Pirelli’s mid-size C3 tyres.
Mercedes’ Hamilton joined the fight with a 1’31.960 at the same circuit on an afternoon that seemed more positive for Mercedes than Friday.
As the sun went down, the track became more representative of next week’s qualifying and race. The cooler afternoon conditions therefore led to more performance runs on Pirelli’s softer compounds, with several drivers going faster than the previous benchmark.
After Carlos Sainz got close to teammate Leclerc’s morning benchmark, Hamilton on the softest C5 compound took the lead with a 1m30.781s, Mercedes’ fastest time to date.
That time proved inadequate for Perez’s 1m30.616s on the slower C4 tyres, with Hamilton then improving but still 0.048s behind the Mexican on his next attempt.
In the last hour, as the track picked up speed, Perez widened the gap between himself and the seven-time World Champion, 1m30.305s on C4s increasing his lead to 0.359s.
Valtteri Bottas impressed by finishing third with a 1’30.827, just half a second behind Perez in his Alfa Romeo as he passed both Ferrari drivers.
Behind Leclerc and Sainz, AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda finished sixth with his C4 time, just ahead of his afternoon colleague Kevin Magnussen in the Haas and George Russell’s morning time in the Mercedes.
Fernando Alonso took over from Aston Martin’s reserve driver Felipe Drugovich as the tandem completed the top 10 in what was an impressive performance from the Silverstone team over the long term.
It was another poor day for McLaren as Lando Norris completed just 35 laps and stayed in 11th despite the Brit setting his best time on the slower C3 tyres.
Pierre Gasly was 13th in what appeared to be a tricky new Alpine machine, ahead of Williams marathoner Alex Albon, who teamed with Perez to complete Saturday as both riders completed 130 laps or more.
Morning runners Esteban Ocon, Nico Hulkenberg, Oscar Piastri and Nyck de Vries backed the timesheet with times in hot conditions that cannot be compared to the faster runs in the evening.
As in every session, a late virtual safety car and a red flag for system checks as well as the start of practice ended an otherwise uneventful session.
With the only three-day winter test completed, the teams now have five days to prepare for the first round of the opening race of 2023 at Friday’s track at the same Bahrain International Circuit.