Verstappen tops the final day of testing in Bahrain

Max Verstappen topped the third and final day of testing at the Bahrain International Circuit at Sakhir in Bahrain. Verstappen headed Charles Leclerc and Fernando Alonso as pre-season testing came to a close.

Verstappen set the fastest lap of time of 1m31.720s on the softest compound of Pirelli tyres (C5). The Dutchman was the only driver to dip below the 1m32s mark and was 0.695 seconds faster than Leclerc.

Leclerc was in first position for most of the afternoon session with a lap time of 1m32.415s set on the C4 compound tyres. Carlos Sainz who drove in the morning session finished in thirteenth position as the two Scuderia Ferrari drivers combined to record 119 laps.

In the morning session, Sergio Pérez was on top of the time charts for the Oracle Red Bull Racing team. The Mexican set the fastest lap time of 1m33.105s on the C4 tyres and finished in seventh position overall at the end of the day.

Alonso moved into third position at the end of the session on the C4 compound tyres as he recorded 122 laps on a good day of testing for the BWT Alpine F1 team.

George Russell posted the fourth fastest time on the C5 compound tyres at the end of the day. Lewis Hamilton drove in the morning session and was only seventeenth on the time charts overall. The Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team has a lot of work to do to catch up with the Red Bull and Ferrari teams based on testing form.

Valtteri Bottas was in fifth position as the Alfa Romeo F1 ORLEN team showed improved performance on the last day of testing. Guanyu Zhou had a good day of testing as the rookie driver finished in second position in the morning session and eleventh position overall. The drivers also combined to record 150 laps for the team.

Yuki Tsunoda was in sixth position with 57 laps in the afternoon session. Pierre Gasly was in third position in the morning session and finished in twelfth position overall. The Scuderia AlphaTauri team has shown good performance in testing.

Mick Schumacher was in eighth position even as Kevin Magnussen was in last position after topping the time charts on the second day. The Haas F1 Team will get another two hours of testing after the chequered flag today.

Lando Norris finished in ninth position on the C2 tyres with 90 laps as the McLaren F1 team continues to sort the braking issues on the MCL36. Norris was the sole driver at the wheel for the Woking-based team as Daniel Ricciardo is recovering from Covid19-related sickness.

Sebastian Vettel finished in tenth position as he took over testing duties in the afternoon session. Lance Stroll finished in sixteenth position as both drivers combined to record 134 laps.

Alexander Albon and Nicholas Latifi finished in fourteenth and fifteenth position as they combined for 142 laps after a severely truncated day of testing on the previous day.

Red Bull Racing and the Ferrari teams have looked the best overall in the six days of pre-season testing. Verstappen and Pérez finished on the top of both sessions on the final day of testing.

The teams will study the copious amount of data collected and try to maximise their performance as they get ready for the opening race at the same venue next weekend (March 18 to 20, 2022).