What we learned from day three of 2024 F1 testing in Bahrain

So, that's it. After three days of lap-logging at the Bahrain International Circuit, Formula 1's 2024 edition of pre-season testing is over.

Each of the 10 teams will spend the intervening six days between now and the first free practice session of the year poring through reams of data, hoping that within it lies the perfect set-up for the opening grand prix of 2024.

The usual end-of-day cornucopia of fast times was not as bountiful as in seasons past, as most prioritised their long-run plans in the cooler evening conditions and elected not to get distracted by the trappings of time-chasing. That's not to say that nobody bolted on a set of softer tyres to slap a quick time on the board, but there was a tentativeness about it as the front-running outfits chose to keep their hands veiled.

As the field will be back at the Bahrain circuit in less than a week, it won't be long until the world is given its clearest indication of how the new season's pecking order will shake out. As ever, it's dangerous to read too much into how this week's testing events have unfolded, but that's not to say that there aren't clues that offer a glimpse into how next week's pieces will fall into place.

Leclerc topped the final day of testing which was also disrupted by another broken drain cover

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"Big Three" in command as drain pitfalls resurface

Another Turn 11 drain displacement issue forced another reshuffle in the schedule, as the red flag once again fluttered in the considerable Bahrain breeze after just 27 minutes of running. It appeared to be the same grate that broke free of its moorings on Thursday, and it comes as little surprise that the FIA is considering filling in the drain area with concrete to ensure no further repeats over the race weekend.

It has become particularly evident in this year's test that the drivers are exploiting the full width of the road to open up the entry into Turn 11 and carry more speed into the corner, but the suction produced by the ground effect bodywork has proved difficult for the drain grates to contend with. A delay of an hour and 15 minutes effectively killed off the lunch hour, creating conditions for uninterrupted running over the rest of the day.

Carlos Sainz had been on top of the order at the time which the morning session would have ended, during a switchover phase for many of the drivers who had been on the earlier duties. The Ferrari driver, who led the way in Thursday's timing order, set a 1m31.247s on the C3 compound to sit clear of Sergio Perez (on the same compound) by 0.236s at the midway stage, but the times fell further when Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc assumed the helm of the Red Bull and Ferrari respectively.

Verstappen started to raise the bar with a series of quick runs on the C3 tyre over the afternoon, whittling his efforts down to a 1m30.755s, but this was eclipsed by Leclerc opting to bolt on the C4s to collect a 1m30.322s. Leclerc thus spent the latter couple of hours sitting on top of the timesheets as the front-runners embarked upon their race simulations as the sun set; the cooler conditions were naturally the most representative of those expected during the race next weekend.

"We focused on the long-running to get more of an understanding of the car, and it was good to see the performance of the car was very strong," Verstappen said. "We made the plan to not focus on pure lap time and tried different compounds, so I am happy with the laps that we did today.

"As we head into the race weekend it is all about fine-tuning the car and also seeing what the race throws at you when you push the car to the limit. We now need to look into the data a bit more and try to come up with a plan for the week ahead."

Cars sucking up drain covers is becoming a repeat issue in the current F1 ground effects era

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That didn't stop a few from chasing Leclerc's time on softer tyres, although none were able to topple the Monegasque's lap from the hotter, sunnier conditions earlier in the afternoon. George Russell got closest with his late 1m30.368s that separated Leclerc from Verstappen, as Zhou Guanyu also took the opportunity for a final flyer to move up to third in the final times. Yuki Tsunoda and Alex Albon also opted for a swift soft-tyre run prior to the last-minute flurry, Russell demonstrated that Mercedes looked very good in the final sector by the end of the day, setting a purple sector in one of his fast C3 runs and finding further time with his switch to the C4s at the end.

That said, the Mercedes could often look slightly unsettled on the brakes - Lewis Hamilton had a few snatches on the front tyres during his time in the car over the morning, while Russell had a moment into Turn 1 as the skies began to darken. This might be due to the team getting acquainted with its visibly low ride height on the bumpy Bahrain circuit; at one point in the evening, Russell raced side-by-side with Leclerc down the main straight, and the lower inclination of the Mercedes relative to the Ferrari was apparent as the W15 sparked more profusely than the SF-24.

PLUS: What Bahrain trackside viewing reveals about F1 2024

Verstappen and Leclerc looked relatively serene in their long runs, although the latter's early laps on a set of C1 tyres portrayed an air of marginal waywardness before he settled into his stints - perhaps, on that instance, the tyres hadn't quite come up to temperature.

"Compared to Bahrain last year, (at the) beginning of the season, we made a huge step in terms of consistency and degradation," reckoned Ferrari team principal, Fred Vasseur. "It was already better at the end of 2023. Now it's a matter of consistency, but it's also a matter of pure performance and to see where will be qualifying, but I think that at one stage you will have a kind of convergence of performance between everybody. I hope also with Red Bull. But every single tenth of a second will be crucial. And today, after two days, it's very difficult to know where we are in terms of pure performance on one lap."

The paddock is in consensus that Red Bull will be on top when it comes to the Bahrain Grand Prix and, although Ferrari has looked solid, Mercedes and McLaren are expected to be knocking on the Scuderia's door.

Hamilton's Ferrari switch for 2025 dominated focus in his first media appearance

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Hamilton's first media appearance after Ferrari switch

After he'd kicked off the 2025 silly season with a bombshell, the Ferrari-bound Hamilton made his first proper appearance in front of the media in the Friday press conference and, naturally, his switch from Brackley to Maranello was of particular interest.

Having been apparently sewn up at Mercedes for 2024 and beyond, Hamilton's contract with the Silver Arrows beyond an initial year included elements that could be triggered. When the Ferrari option emerged, Hamilton opted to make the switch in "the hardest decision I think I've ever had to make".

Hamilton noted that the deal was made possible by the approach from Vasseur, whom Hamilton had driven for in F3 in 2005 with the ASM squad and in GP2 with ART in 2006. Both seasons ended in Hamilton winning the title in his progression to F1 with McLaren. Explaining that his relationship with the Frenchman remained on "great" terms, Hamilton reckoned that the efforts that Vasseur had made during his tenure at Ferrari thus far had convinced him enough to join.

"We had amazing success in F3 and also in GP2, and that's really where the foundation of our relationship started," Hamilton said. "We just always remained in touch. I thought that he was going to be an amazing team manager at some stage and progressed to F1, but at the time he wasn't interested in that, and it was really cool to see him step into the Alfa team.

"Then when he got the job at Ferrari, I was just so happy for him. I think just the stars aligned. I think it really wouldn't have happened without him. So I'm really grateful and really excited about the work that he's doing there."

It is expected that Hamilton will drive with Ferrari until at least 2026 when the revised engine regulations become entrenched in the championship's formula, by which time he will be 41 years old. Beyond that? It likely depends on the success that the seven-time champion is able to achieve during his time in red.

"Ultimately I'm writing my story," he concluded, "and I felt like this would be it was time to start a new chapter."

Once again McLaren had a far from plain sailing pre-season test

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McLaren fast but not issue-free

A fuel system issue for Lando Norris cost the Briton a chance to explore the McLaren MCL38's long-run capabilities on Thursday, and the plan to shift that to Friday morning was once again nixed by a handful of issues - presumed to be clutch-related - that left him with just 20 laps collected from his final stint in the car before the grand prix weekend.

Although frustrated that he was unable to get the full array of mileage in before the Bahrain Grand Prix, Norris stated that McLaren stood in a far stronger position compared to the basis that the team had to work from in 2022 and 2023.

"[There were] just a few setbacks here and there actually, over the last few days. So not the end of the world, definitely, but of course you always want a perfect day. We didn't get any long running high fuel stuff last night, and we moved into this morning, and we still didn't get it this morning. So not exactly what I wanted, but still plenty of things learned and a lot of stuff that I wanted to get done. I was happy for the most part, but a couple of little things that I wish I could have done more.

"I think the issues we've had over the last few years were just lack of preparation and knowledge of certain things. This year I think we've been definitely a lot more prepared in every area. So I'm very happy about that. We've done an excellent job to get everything ready and not have any faults like that. Just various other things which have happened, I mean it's good that they've happened now and we can prepare for them a bit more for the future."

Oscar Piastri was able to log a series of long runs on the harder tyres over the course of the afternoon and evening, banking 91 laps over the course of his stints and ended the day with the seventh-fastest time having not opted to go for a blaze of glory at the end with soft tyres. His times looked solid, albeit with a sniff of depreciation as the tyres started to age over the course of his running. Regardless, his fastest effort on the C3s was about 0.3s off Verstappen's effort on the same compound, which offers reason to be cheerful despite the earlier hiccups.

Alonso has made his 2024 F1 world champion prediction

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Alonso plays down 95% of the 2024 grid's chances

Compared to 2023's fanfare given its evident progress through the off-season, Aston Martin has experienced a much lower-key test a year on. The drivers and team seem to be content to sing from a familiar testing hymn sheet, sticking to the mantra of 'we've made a step, but so has everyone else' as the Silverstone squad appears content to manage expectations.

Flashes of promise, particularly from Fernando Alonso, hint that the team should be equipped to maintain its position among the Ferrari-Mercedes-McLaren pack across 2024. His longer runs over the evening also appeared consistently among the 1m37s on the harder compounds, although the key differentiator of fuel levels naturally remain hidden.

But Alonso was quick to rule himself out of a title tilt in 2024, ruling everyone else except Max Verstappen in the process too! “I think Max is the world champion and Red Bull is dominating the sport. Also, the concept that they presented this year, it's also a surprise. At the moment, we just have to watch them and see how they perform. I think 19 drivers in the paddock now will think that [they] will not win the championship."

Aston Martin's AMR24 did prove to be particularly reliable, however, and team principal Mike Krack explained that the team was able to complete its objectives over the three-day test without any real obstructions to its progress.

"It was a very, very good test for us," he said. "I think the only interruptions we had was with the red flags, so I think we can be quite happy. The car was in a really good state when it arrived here, with very reliable, high-quality parts. So we could do all the work that we had scheduled every day. Now it's about digging [into the data] to understand all the results that we have achieved.

"I think it was quite important for us that we look at ourselves. We had quite a big programme, and we cannot influence anyway what others are doing. It's not that you come here and you react to what other people are doing. We had our plan from the first day, and we just executed it. Now it's about the analysis, and also trying to understand what the others did."

The expectation is that the two halves of the field will remain in largely the same factions, with Aston sticking with the top five teams, but the order may well be different within those sub-groups. With an aggressive development path confirmed by technical director Dan Fallows, the team in British Racing Green might not necessarily start 2024 at the absolute sharp end - but it has designs on getting there.

Next up is the 2024 F1 opener which is just one week away

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