Bahrain testing: Perez beats Hamilton on final day

Red Bull ended the three-day pre-season test at Bahrain International Circuit just as it had started on Thursday, with the top time of the day.

On this occasion it was Sergio Perez who led the timesheets after a late lap of 1:30.305s in the final hour. That was faster than last year's pole position lap for the Bahrain GP which had been set in similar twilight conditions under the floodlights.

Perez was in the car all day and completed 133 laps, although his team mate Max Verstappen was still at the venue and watching from the pit lane having completed his preparation work in the RB19 on Friday.

Bahrain Pre-Season Test - Day 3 final

Mercedes bounced back from a frustrating day yesterday which had included handling problems in high temperatures and an early end to their time on track with a hydraulic issue on the W14.

There were so such problems today, although Lewis Hamilton appeared to struggle for handling on the harder C2 rubber before switching back to the C3, and then finally posted a time of 1:30.664s on the softest compound before close of play.

The Mercedes had overall showed better reliability, with Hamilton completing 65 laps in the afternoon to add to team mate George Russell's morning tally of 83 laps.

Alfa Romeo's Valtteri Bottas suffered a mechanical issue early in the day, but came back to finish third quickest after continuing in the cockpit all day for a total of 131 laps.

Ferrari continued to split driving duties between Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz, and the pair finished the day fourth and fifth fastest with a combined mileage of 143 laps between them.

Yuki Tsunoda was sixth quickest after 76 laps while his rookie team mate Nyck de Vries added another 87 laps as he concentrated on mileage rather than speed, leaving him bottom of the times and almost eight seconds slower than Perez.

Kevin Magnussen was seventh for Haas after putting in a whopping 95 laps during his spell in the car, compared to Nico Hulkenberg who was 15th fastest after 77 laps undertaken in the morning.

Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso wasn't able to match his Thursday and Friday performances that had put him near the top, and ended the test ninth quickest today. That was just ahead of his stand-in team mate Felipe Drugovich who was once again filling in for the injured Lance Stroll.

McLaren continued to struggle, with their programme repeatedly interrupted by repair work on the front winglets meaning that Lando Norris was only able to complete 37 laps after lunch. The team insists that the issue is minor and will have a permanent fix in time for next weekend's race.

His team mate, rookie Oscar Piastri, only managed 44 laps in the morning and was also the first driver of the test to go for a proper spin as he exited turn 9. Fortunately he did not hit the barrier or damage the car along the way.

Pierre Gasly was 12th quickest for his new team Alpine after 56 laps, and Esteban Ocon was 14th with 76 laps under his belt in the afternoon/evening stint.

Alex Albon was in the Williams all day and completed a trouble-free 136 laps, the most of any driver on Saturday. In total, the 17 drivers between them completed 1399 laps of the 15 turn, 5.412km circuit.

The drivers will be back on track on Friday for first practice for the 2023 season opener, with the Bahrain Grand Prix itself taking place on Sunday March 5.

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