George Russell topped the times in the final session of pre-season testing in Bahrain, as questions remain over F1’s competitive order.
First Hour
With the track now returning to normal after the bizarre gantry incident in the morning session and lunch, it was Esteban Ocon in the Haas who ventured out onto the track first at the green light. Pierre Gasly followed him out shortly afterwards.
Back in the pits, Williams and Ferrari had both cars up on the jacks, with urgent work being carried out on both cars. The shutters were still pulled across the Aston Martin and McLaren garages, indicating extensive work needed on the AMR25 and MCL39.
Gasly took the honours of the having the first afternoon session time, his result placing him 11th in the standings.
After only eight minutes, the red flag came out for an unexpected bus venturing onto the circuit. The session resumed after a short delay, with Lewis Hamilton taking to the track for the afternoon, Yuki Tsuonda, Ocon and Gasly continuing their runs.
Hamilton’s first lap out him towards the bottom of the table, while George Russell move into P8, despite a snap of oversteer on his first lap.
Gasly usurped Leclerc from the top of the timesheets, going 0.154s clear of the Ferrari on the same tyre as the Monegasque, before improving further on his time.
The Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg ventured on to the track, his car visibly struggling with understeer, oversteer and drag.
After their quiet start, McLaren and Oscar Piastri started their afternoon running, focusing on race simulations. However, the team had reverted to yesterday’s rear bodywork as they gathered more data.
Times start to tumble and long runs mask speed
Russell jumped to third in the standings, as Ocon on his race run moved into P6 on the C4 tyre. Gasly continued to impress, improving further to pull half a second clear from Leclerc. But Russell spoiled Gasly’s party. moving 0.288s clear from the Alpine.
Piastri moved into sixth on the hard C2 tyre, two tenths of a second behind his teammate’s time on the softer C3. The McLaren was on shorter runs, before preparing for an extended race simulation.
But down at Red Bull, a giant rebuild on Max Verstappen’s car neared completion. The reigning world champion appeared at the back of the garage and prepared to test a new floor.
Hamilton improved to third on the timesheets, the car’s low profile giving away that he was on performance runs. Gasly once again lit up the sector times, to move ahead of Russell by just 0.014s.
Verstappen’s first lap since his extended stoppage was met by a shake of the head from the Dutchman. The second lap saw a lock up into turn 10. Albon had now ventured onto the circuit, entering a race simulation on the C2 tyre.
Verstappen pitted for his newer front wing on the C4 tyres running flo-vis paint, but still struggled with oversteer. returned to the pits one lap later.
On track battles and substitutions
As the session entered its final two hours, Verstappen on C3 tyres and more flo-vis paint toppled Gasly from the top of the timesheets. After a short stint, he once again returned to the pits.
The few drivers that were out on circuit were doing long runs as the time began to run out for the teams to gather all important data.
An unlikely battle between McLaren and Haas captivated audiences for a brief moment, Piastri emerging victorious.
With less than an hour and a half to go, Verstappen once again took to the track with setup changes, and pulled further away from the rest of the field.
Lance Stroll was finished before the final hour. The Canadian felt unwell, and teammate Alonso returned to the car after a delay, caused by Aston Martin setting up the AMR25 for the Spaniard.
The final hour: sandbagging galore
With less than 50 mins to go, Alex Albon jumped to the top of the times on the C4 tyres, as the qualifying simulations began.
Verstappen by comparison, locked up on his attempt, and pitted for a new set of tyres, the Dutchman once again unhappy with his Red Bull.
Albon, Verstappen, Gasly, Russell, and Piasri all started extended qualifying simulations, with Verstappen on the C3 tyre replacing Albon at the top of the timesheets with 40 minutes to go. Piastri’s latest attempt moved him into third, 0.314s behind leader Verstappen.
Esteban Ocon spun at Turn 1, but was able to continue, with pride the only casualty of the incident. Verstappen mirrored the Frenchman a lap later, also continuing.
With 20 minutes to go, the low fuel “glory runs” had yet to materialise, with the screens over the Ferrari garage indicating their session was likely over.
George Russell pipped Verstappen to the top of the time with five minutes to go. As the clock ticked down, no substantial improvements were made, leaving Russell on top from Verstappen Albon, Piastri, Gasly, Russell, Hamilton, Tsunoda, Ocon, Leclerc and Antonelli.
Feature Image Credit: Red Bull Content Pool/Rudy Carezzevoli/Getty Images
