Defending champion Max Verstappen led the last day of pre-season testing in Bahrain, with a spectacular time attack to end the game on Saturday.
Times changed when the sun went down in Sahir, the morning leaderboard was constantly being shuffled. A late red flag caused by Valtteri Bottas’ stoppage left 20 minutes for a final time attack during which Verstappen spun 360 degrees in the final corner before setting the fastest lap and improving it to the final benchmark of 1m 31.720s, the most comfortable fastest result ever. three days in Bahrain.
Live stream: Day 3 of pre-season testing in Bahrain
Thus, the previous leader Charles Leclerc remained in second, 0.695 seconds behind Ferrari, while Alpine’s Fernando Alonso in third place had his best last-minute lap.
Thus, Mercedes’ George Russell was promoted to fourth with teammate Lewis Hamilton in 17th with 78 laps in the morning.
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With 40 minutes left, Bottas pulled out to 5th before stopping at turn 8 on his lap for a hitch, prompting a second red flag of the day. Finn ended a promising day for the team, which saw Zhou Guangyu (11th) start 82 laps before lunch.
AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda, 6th, went wheel to wheel with Russell in the evening – after teammates Pierre Gasly (12th) and Hamilton set the precedent in the morning.
Morning leader Sergio Perez finished seventh overall, ahead of Haas’ Mick Schumacher.
Schumacher showed the first red flag of the day – very briefly – when he spun out of the final corner after two hours (39 laps) of the day’s run. He was in 8th place when the checkered flag went up, but he will have two extra hours of running in the night while Haas catches up on Thursday morning.
Lando Norris climbed very late to P9 and, after over 80 laps on the board, posted his highest run in three days – in the absence of Daniel Ricciardo, suspended by Covid-19.
Sebastian Vettel of Aston Martin had a productive evening, running over 80 laps on his way to 10th place.
Lewis Hamilton finished 17th overall after driving 78 laps on the morning of the final day.
In 13th place (behind Gasly) was Ferrari morning runner Carlos Sainz with 68 laps, allowing him to announce that the Scuderia had “satisfactorily completed” its test program.
Fourteenth-place Alex Albon drove the car for just 18 tours of Sakhir on Saturday afternoon, Williams putting morning driver Nicholas Latifi (15th) back in the cockpit, bringing his total to 124 laps.
Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll finished 16th and Hamilton 17th, while Haas’ Kevin Magnussen rounded out the standings by starting the day an hour early – the team were catching up and Schumacher had to lap on Saturday night.
Bahrain is hosting the first round of the 2022 Formula 1 World Championship, where the teams’ efforts to prepare their next generation of cars will be realized. Who will rush forward and who will fall behind when the lights go out on March 20?