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Formula 1 Bahrain February Testing

F1 Bahrain pre-season test - Day 3

Minute by minute updates on the final day of the 2023 F1 Bahrain pre-season test

Kevin Magnussen, Haas VF-23, Logan Sargeant, Williams FW45, Lando Norris, McLaren MCL60, Carlos Sainz, Ferrari SF-23, Zhou Guanyu, Alfa Romeo C43, Esteban Ocon, Alpine A523, Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes F1 W14 line-up on the grid to practice a start

After Max Verstappen topped the opening day and Zhou Guanyu went fastest yesterday, on-track action resumes from 07:00 GMT (10:00 local time).

All three days follow the same schedule, with running taking place from 10:00 until 14:15, and from 15:15 until 19:30 (all local time), pausing for a lunch break.

All 10 teams are set to be in action for the Bahrain pre-season test, the only opportunity teams will have to properly put their cars through their paces before the 2023 season proper gets under way next weekend.

More: F1 Bahrain test driver line-up

The Bahrain pre-season test will take place on 23-25 February ahead of the 2023 F1 season opener at the same venue, the Bahrain Grand Prix, on 3-5 March.

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The Mercedes driver could've gone even quicker had he not had a slightly messy final sector. Hamilton's former team-mate Bottas has also improved and moved up to ninth.
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Hamilton is on the very softest C5 tyres now and moves to the top of the timesheets! It's a 1m30.781s and two tenths faster than Leclerc's time this morning.
Hamilton is on a charge now and has gone purple in the first sector!
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After a cooldown lap, Perez now improves again and moves up to fourth on the soft tyres. His 1m31.386s is three tenths slower than the Ferraris and still behind Hamilton's time as well.
We're now into the final 90 minutes of testing before the 2023 F1 season begins. Let's see if there are any further surprises in store...
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Tsunoda is the latest on a charge and he moves up to eighth - although he is still on the mid-range C3 tyres.
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Perez has just improved on the C4 tyres but stays sixth - and he did have to contend with the Ferrari ahead on that lap, so it wasn't all smooth sailing for him.
The Alpine moves up to 11th with that effort on the C3 tyres - but he's still 1.5s slower than the best time of the day on that rubber.
Whatever happened at Turn 1, it's not putting off Ocon as he's now setting green sector times on his next lap.
Replays show Ocon had an enormous lock-up and went storming into the runoff beyond the corner - possibly a brake issue given how far off the track he went?
We were saying earlier about the Alpine looking a handful and Ocon has just gone well off the track at Turn 1!
We obviously don't know the fuel loads or engine modes, but that time from Hamilton was just two tenths slower than the Ferraris on the same soft compound of rubber. Perhaps something a bit more encouraging for the Black Arrows.
Stopwatch
And the answer is it's two tenths faster! Hamilton moves up to third with a 1m31.245s.
Hamilton has now bolted on the soft C4 tyres, so let's see how his time compares with what Russell managed earlier.
Darkness has almost fully descended now in Bahrain and we're approaching the moment when track conditions should be at their best.
Norris pits on that lap, but had set several green mini-sectors. Alonso, meanwhile, is back out having completed relatively little running so far this afternoon.
To continue McLaren watch, Norris has just completed a very slow cool down lap and is now on another flier. Bottas, meanwhile, improves his time but remains 15th of today's 17 runners.
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Norris does indeed storm up the timesheet to eighth! His 1m32.691s is a second behind Perez on the similar compound of tyre.
Norris is on the C3 tyres and it looks like he's bidding to move up from the 16th place he currently occupies on the leaderboard.
A much rarer sight has been the McLaren, but Norris has just ventured out - having only completed 13 laps so far this afternoon.
One of the themes of the test has been Williams registering a lot of laps and Albon is now leading the way out of the three drivers completing a whole day of running today, having moved onto 110 tours of the Bahrain circuit.
Back to the track action, and it's gone fairly quiet with just Albon and Magnussen pounding around currently.

Continuing the theme, in terms of success, F1's oldest winner is Luigi Fagioli - the only victor born in the 19th Century - who triumphed in the 1951 French GP for Alfa Romeo at the age of 53, although he did share the car with whippersnapper, 40-year-old Juan Manuel Fangio. But Fagioli was so annoyed at being asked to swap to Fangio's faulty steed mid-race, he decided to retire from grand prix racing.

A more recent (relatively!) addition to the top 10 oldest winners is Nigel Mansell's triumph for Williams at Adelaide in 1994 when aged 41. Can Alonso find his way on to that list?

 

Alonso has certainly been one of the stars of pre-season testing and much has been made of the fact the Spaniard is still delivering the goods despite now being 41 years young.

But he's just a spring chicken compared to some F1 racers from decades gone by. The oldest to ever start a race was Luigi Chiron, who finished sixth in the 1955 Monaco Grand Prix when two months shy of his 56th birthday, five laps down in a Lancia.

 

Stopwatch
And that effort puts Alonso up to fourth with a 1m31.450s, four tenths off the pace of the Ferraris.
It seems it's qualifying simulation time now as Alonso is on a push lap on the C4s!
But something looking a little better is the Ferrari and Sainz sets a lap just a tenth slower than his previous best on the soft tyres.
The Alpine is bouncing and snapping all over the place for Ocon and it certainly doesn't look like a great car to drive.
And it's a 1m31.960s for Hamilton, which sends him up to fifth. Meanwhile, Bottas also improves, but stays 14th.
Russell's team-mate Hamilton is just starting a push lap on the C3 tyres and he sets a personal best in the first sector.
It's all smiles for Russell as he has a joke with the team - and Wolff is also smiling, too. Seems the Mercedes camp is a bit happier than it was yesterday!
Stopwatch
Thank you Tom! And we've already got some improvements as Alonso goes fractionally faster but remains in fifth, while Bottas has also improved to move up to 14th.
As the sun continues to set, it's time to hand over to Stephen Lickorish, who will take you through to the end of the session.
Perez is the first to complete a century of laps today. Excellent mileage from the Red Bull.
Alonso is wheeled back in the garage after setting that time.
Stopwatch
Alonso has set a new personal best to move to P5 on the C3 tyre.
Sainz is unable to topple team-mate Leclerc but he does improve. The effort is  0.012s shy of Leclerc's top time from the morning session.
Sainz sets a purple sector 1. Could be a new session best here.
Sun is beginning to set at the Sakhir circuit. We should see some more performance runs soon.
Hamilton jumps to P6 with a 1m32.147s. That is by far his best effort this afternoon. It puts the Mercedes driver between the Aston Martin duo of Drugovich and Alonso.

By: Autosport Staff

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