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Formula 1 Pre-Season Test

F1 Bahrain pre-season test - Day 3

Minute by minute updates on the final day of the 2024 F1 Bahrain pre-season test

George Russell, Mercedes F1 W15

After its stunning 2023 season when it won all but one grand prix, Red Bull is the team everybody wants to beat and began the test in ominous fashion as Max Verstappen ended up over a second quicker than the field on the opening day.

But Carlos Sainz responded by topping day two for Ferrari, albeit on a softer tyre compound than Red Bull's Sergio Perez used, after red flag delays caused by a dislodged drain cover.

The Bahrain pre-season test will conclude on 23 February, with the day’s track action starting at 7am GMT (10am local time).

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A minor moment for Gasly as he runs wide at Turn 4. It's still a personal-best first sector, however.
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As we begin to approach the Golden Hour, Leclerc banks an improved 1m31.374s, moving him clear of Perez into P3.
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A personal best as well from Russell with a 1m32.515s. He moves up to P9 but will be hoping there is more in the tank than that, as Hulkenberg pushes him to P10.
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But a yellow final sector. He improves to P5 with a 1m31.696s, leaving him 0.638s off Verstappen's current best.
Personal best in sector best for Alonso as well...
Alonso is on a flier here - personal best in sector one...
And into another brief lull we fall, with Albon, Tsunoda and Zhou the only drivers on the track - all of whom appear to be on longer runs.
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There's an early marker for the day as Verstappen puts in a 1m31.058s! Not the fastest time of the weekend, but that could come. Still the medium C3 tyres for the reigning champion.
Here comes Verstappen - purple in sector one, purple in sector two!
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A new personal best for Tsunoda in the RB. Ricciardo failed to register a hot lap this morning and is 17th overall, but Tsunoda is now 11th with a 1m33.209s.
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But out of nowhere, Leclerc nails a 1m31.672s, putting him third fastest - 0.425s off team-mate Sainz at the top but on the same compound.
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And another improvement for Alonso, up to P12 with a 1m33.484s.
Improvements also for Gasly (P10) and Alonso (P13). The timing screen briefly showed that Alonso had stopped on the track, but he's now started a fresh hot lap - so no reason to panic!
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A 1m32.250s for Verstappen sees him move up one place to sixth, and only 1.003s shy of Sainz at this very early stage.
Eight drivers are now on the track, with Zhou the latest driver to join the party.
Alonso was on a personal best effort there despite moving to the harder C2 compound, but he moved out of the way to allow Hulkenberg through after running slightly wide at Turn 10.
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A 'slow' start for Verstappen with 'only' a 1m32.669s, putting him seventh. If that's a steady lap, wow!
And here comes Verstappen. The last time he was on the track, he blew away the competition with a time over one second clear of the rest. A similar marker this evening would be more than concerning for the chasing pack.
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A slightly slower final sector for Leclerc means he doesn't improve his time, falling 0.01s shy of his early marker.
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Leclerc winds up for a second flying lap as Russell returns to the pits, having set a 1m34.867 on the C3 tyre to go 12th.
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Leclerc is the fastest of the afternoon runners at this stage, putting in a 1m33.632s.
With 18 laps in the bank, Piastri returns to the pits. But as he does that, Russell and Leclerc replace him on the asphalt.
Tsunoda is out and here comes Verstappen. The tyres are about to be bolted onto his Red Bull.
Hulkenberg now joins the track. Given the timing, it would appear that most teams elected to run the afternoon session as had originally been planned. With their earlier problem, McLaren are very much the outlier.
Aston Martin have fitted the medium C3 compound for this initial run for Alonso. But don't go expecting any real marker hot laps, those will come in the final hour when Haydn is back taking you through the action.
Here's Alonso!
Onto lap 15 for Piastri. McLaren really are making up for lost time after suffering the clutch problem this morning.
Alonso is also ready for action. His Aston Martin team-mate Stroll was fourth-fastest in the morning. Add Russell to the list of drivers readying themselves.
Piastri could shortly be joined on the track by Leclerc, who is standing next to his Ferrari after taking over duties from session-topping Sainz.
After reliability issues limited Norris to only 20 laps this morning, these early laps will be renewing confidence in the McLaren garage.
A solid start to things for Piastri, now already on his ninth lap as we tick closer to the four-hour marker.
There's plenty of work going on in the Red Bull garage as the team prepares to bolt Verstappen back into the car for the first time since Wednesday evening - how long ago that feels now!
A very steady opening lap for Piastri, and he looks quite steady, slowly winding up the pace ahead of a busy four hours of action.
Here's Piastri. The silence is again broken as he completes a practice start on the hardest C1 compound.
McLaren appears to have completed the changes required to ready the car for Piastri after Norris was in action this morning. The Australian is being strapped in. 

Norris was fifth-fastest in his final outing.

By: Autosport Staff

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