F1 Bahrain 2021 pre-season testing - Day 3
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Norris does eventually haul himself up the timesheets, posting a 1m32.166s to get into P6.
Breaking news
"When we said design a car, and make it snappy, this wasn't what we had in mind" (not a real quote obvs)...https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/bottas-mercedes-w12-f1-has-snappy-and-unforgiving-rear-end-/5723366/
Stopwatch
Norris was on a much better lap, but lost about two seconds in the final sector! Perhaps he backed out of that one.
Off track
Russell had a bit of a snap of oversteer at turn four, going onto the run-off. He's having another crack at a lap on those C2 tyres.
Stopwatch
Schumacher doing some soft-tyre runs, but encounters a little traffic on a speedy run and fails to improve.
Stopwatch
Ocon also does a nice final sector to complete a 1m31.630s - having gone slower in the opening pair of sectors compared to his best.
Stopwatch
Perez got up to P2 with a 1m30.927s on the C2 - a good lap there.
Photo
Here is said Super Aguri, the 2008 edition running in Bahrain 14 years ago...
The big Honda logo on the rear wing of the Red Bull and AlphaTauri definitely gives us big Super Aguri vibes...which we like, of course.
I've just realised it's the 14th March - so, happy Pi day! The perfect day to watch cars go around in circles...
Stroll begins his 29th lap, doing some high-fuel runs on a set of C4 rubber.
Photo
Lines and lines and lines and lines...what do they mean?
You can see how the flow around the nose of the McLaren clings around the nose, bringing the air to the top of the cape to be sent towards the bargeboards.
Stopwatch
The Glastonbury native logs a 1m32.999s, a faster time but remaining eighth.
Raikkonen locks a wheel at Turn 4, having a minor excursion off-line while attempting a fast lap on the C3 tyres. Norris is on a better lap with the C4s...
Russell now with the most laps of all, with 27. Bottas is on 24, as is Stroll.
Breaking news
What was Red Bull hiding with its floor? Here's some of the details: https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/revealed-the-secrets-of-red-bulls-rb16b-f1-car/5723169/
Stopwatch
Schumacher was up on his best first sector, but lost ground in the following sectors - going 0.3s slower than his best overall.
There was a splash of fluid sat on the underside of the Red Bull's nose - perhaps a brake line has leaked? They usually mount the fluid bottles around the front bulkhead area.
Somebody who likes to moan on Twitter complained about the comparisons between the Alpine A521 and the Ligier JS5. So, here's a photo of the JS5.
Stopwatch
Ocon dropped a quicker lap, a 1m31.844s on the C2. Lost time in sector three relative to his best, but a good lap.
Leclerc also went pretty wide at T13, so he backed out. Nobody's on anything quicker at the moment, as we complete the first hour of the day.
Braking for T10 looked good, perhaps riding T11's kerbs too much, and he's half a second down in sector 2 - so this lap won't be any better.
Leclerc on another quick run, but loses a tenth in sector one with a few scruffy corners.
A faster lap for Russell, but the Brit remains in P7 with a 1m32.731s. He had a Red Bull ahead of him, which might have created a wee splash of dirty air.
Stopwatch
The Frenchman fires the AlphaTauri up to second in the timesheets, a 1m31.233s, to relegate Perez down a spot. Gasly's on the test C3 rubber.
Gasly's trundling round in his AlphaTauri, with a splash of flow-vis on his flank to understand the sidepods.
Perez shaves more time off of his, erm, time - posting a 1m31.890s on those harder tyres.
Encouragingly for Mercedes, Bottas has done the most laps so far - having done 17 of them so far in this opening 47 minutes.
Perez surges up to third place, posting a 1m32.067s on the C2 tyre.
Want to recap yesterday's running, with a sprinkling of analysis? This should help you out: https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/what-we-learned-from-the-first-full-race-simulations-of-2021-f1-testing/5716890/
Stopwatch
Schumacher gets up to P2, leapfrogging Ocon with a 1m32.053s.
These are a mixed bag of runs, however - Leclerc absolutely sent it on his lap, but the rest are being a bit more circumspect. As is testing tradition.
Norris went P6 with a run on C4 rubber, as Stroll gets into P8 with a C3 time.
Stopwatch
Ocon fires his Alpine up to P2, with a 1m32.420s on the C2.
Raikkonen gets up to P6 now with his first proper lap, posting a 1m36.645s. He had half-a-day on Friday, and gets the full day today.
Gasly gets up to P5 with a lap, logging a 1m35.128s.
Stopwatch
Bottas gets a 1m32.635s on the C2, his eighth lap of the day, to go second.
Breaking news
Kimi Raikkonen has the day to himself in the Alfa Romeo - and he thinks the Ferrari engine is in a much better position this year: https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/raikkonen-ferrari-engine-in-a-better-position-compared-to-2020/5722849/
Bottas is back out on the road, bearing C2 tyres, to continue his running.
By: Jake Boxall-Legge, Stefan Mackley, Haydn Cobb, Tom Howard
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