Charles Leclerc has led the third and final day of preseason testing at the Bahrain circuit, which next week will host the first grand prix of the 2024 Formula 1 season. The time of the Monegasque Ferrari driver with the C4 tire (1.30. 322), as well as the one that Carlos Sainz scored yesterday (1.29.921), is not significant with a view to the race next Sunday, March 2, which will not have this extra-soft Pirelli compound. With the usual soft (C3), the fastest was Max Verstappen, who finished fourth this Friday and has once again shown that he and his Red Bull are still one step ahead of the competition.
“What I like most about the new car, the RB20, is that my team has not been conservative and has returned to push the limits changing the concept”, Verstappen celebrated at the end of the day, after making the most of the test and saying goodbye with a spectacular pace in all his race simulation sessions, without actually testing the ultra-soft tires that his rivals have used. The Dutchman He has also reaffirmed his leadership at Red Bull, improving his times much more easily than his teammate Checo Pérez.
Carlos Sainz, demanding with Ferrari
Carlos Sainz and Fernando Alonso have also completed a solid preseason, without reliability problems and with many laps completed, although the first seems to be starting from a better base with the new Ferrari. The SF-24 is a more predictable car and has definitively solved the degradation problems of its predecessor. At Aston Martin they are more cautious. They consider that they have taken a step forward with the AMR24, but they know that at least two of their rivals, Red Bull and Ferrari, will start the course with an advantage. The fight with Mercedes and McLaren is more balanced and, just in case, Alonso already warns that “it will be difficult to repeat last year’s podium in the first race.”
The ‘damned’ sewer
After having led the day on Thursday with the Pirelli C4, Carlos Sainz returned to the usual soft compound (C3) on his last morning behind the wheel this preseason and also finished as the fastest. The morning session has been interrupted for the second consecutive day, after the same manhole cover came loose from the previous day, in the area of turn 11 in Sakhir. If yesterday it was Leclerc who damaged the flat bottom of his Ferrari, today it was Pérez’s turn.
The incident caused the red flag to be raised and after a long pause, the FIA announced that the action would resume without any rest time at midday and until the end of the day, at 7:00 p.m. local time. The teams have had to improvise Thus the change of shifts at the wheel and in the afternoon, among others, Verstappen, Leclerc and Alonso took to the track to close the tests of their respective teams.
With Sainz’s morning card as a reference (1:31.247), Verstappen only needed nine laps to beat the Spaniard’s time with a record of 1:31.058, which he subsequently lowered successively. Leclerc has resorted to ultrafast C4 tire to take the lead of the table with a lap of 1:30.409 and has improved to close at 1:30.322.
Verstappen has continued pushing and has managed to get within 4 tenths of the Monegasque with the conventional soft, which placed him virtually first. Russell, in the last minutes of the session, successfully completed a ‘time attack’ that left him second with the C4, followed by Zhou with the same compound, relegating Max to fourth placel. Alonso finished eighth and Sainz, ninth, with 75 and 71 laps, respectively.
In long runs, Red Bull has shown itself to be the most competitive car, with very consistent times from Checo and a new demonstration of strength from Verstappen. The sentence for the preseason has been handed down by Fernando Alonso: “Seeing how Max is doing, 19 drivers already know that they will not be champions this year.” For F1’s sake, let’s hope he’s wrong in his prediction.
Bahrain test. Day 3.
Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) 1:30.322, C4 – 74 laps
George Russell (Mercedes) 1:30.368, C4 – 67 laps
Guanyu Zhou (Sauber) 1.30.647, C4 – 85 turns
Max Verstappen (Red Bull) 1.30.755, C3 – 66 turns
Yuki Tsunoda (Visa Cash RB) 1.30.775, C4 – 53 turns
Alex Albon (Williams) 1.30.984, C4 – 121 turns
Oscar Piastri (McLaren) 1.31.030, C3 – 91 turns
Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) 1.31.159, C3 – 75 turns
Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) 1.31.247, C3 – 71 turns
Sergio Perez (Red Bull) 1.31.483, C3 – 53 turns
Nico Hulkenberg (Haas) 1.31.686, C3 – 89 turns
Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) 1.31.999, C5 – 49 turns
Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) 1.32.038, C3 – 46 turns
Lando Norris (McLaren) 1.32.108, C3 – 20 turns
Pierre Gasly (Alpine) 1.32.149, C3 – 47 turns
Kevin Magnussen (Haas) 1.33.053, C3 – 80 turns
Esteban Ocon (Alpine) 1.33.079, C3 – 55 turns
Valtteri Bottas (Sauber) 1.33.528, C3 – 28 turns
Daniel Ricciardo (Visa Cash RB) 1.37.015, C1 – 70 turns
2024-02-23 16:13:52
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