F1 Testing, Bahrain Day Three: Red Bull’s Max Verstappen ahead of Ferrari as Mercedes trail 2022 rivals

March 12, 2022 admin

Is Max Verstappen heading into his Formula 1 title defence as the favourite? Red Bull show form on final day of testing to beat Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, with Mercedes only fourth; Watch the season-opening Bahrain GP from March 18-20, all live on Sky Sports F1

By Matt Morlidge

Last Updated: 12/03/22 4:31pm

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It’s a job well done for Red Bull as Max Verstappen pushes one last time to take the fastest lap of the week in Bahrain.

Max Verstappen overhauled Ferrari to ensure an improving Red Bull finished pre-season testing on top in Bahrain, with Mercedes trailing their rivals ahead of a much-anticipated opening race of F1 2022.

Red Bull, having been relatively quiet through the first five days of winter running, debuted new upgrades – including sculpted sidepods – for their RB18 on the very final day and promptly sent warnings to the whole grid with their new-found pace.

Sergio Perez topped the morning before Verstappen surged to the front in the faster evening session, beating Charles Leclerc in the previously fancied Ferrari by 0.6seconds amid a flurry of impressive and consistent laps.

Verstappen’s final time was a 1:31.720, giving him a boost before his maiden title defence starts with the Bahrain GP, all live on Sky Sports F1 on March 18-20.

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Anthony Davidson says George Russell looks as if he lacks confidence as he battles with porpoising on the final day of the Bahrain testing.

Fernando Alonso finished third for Alpine, who enjoyed a much better Bahrain test compared to Barcelona, while George Russell put in Mercedes’ best lap of the test – but it was a full second off Verstappen and only good enough for fourth.

Paddock consensus is that Mercedes, the sport’s dominant team for the past eight seasons, have been holding some speed back – although Lewis Hamilton, who drove in the morning and finished 17th, is adamant about their standing.

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Valtteri Bottas causes a red flag as he’s forced to stop with car troubles.

“At the moment I don’t think we will be competing for wins,” stated Hamilton. “We’re not the quickest at the moment. We have a significant amount of pace to find.”

Valtteri Bottas was fifth for Alfa Romeo ahead of Yuki Tsunoda, but ended the day with a reliability issue,

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Haas driver Mick Schumacher has caused the first red flag of the day at the Bahrain test.

Lando Norris – filling in for Daniel Ricciardo who has Covid-19 – was ninth for McLaren, who managed to bump up their Bahrain mileage with 90 laps following a difficult start to the test.

Mick Schumacher was eighth, though he could improve his standing as Haas once again have extra testing hours at their disposal on Saturday evening.

Bahrain pre-season test: Final day timesheet

Driver	Team	Time	Tyres	Laps
1) Max Verstappen	Red Bull	1:31.720	C5 (very soft)	53
2) Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	+0.695	C4 (soft)	51
3) Fernando Alonso	Alpine	+0.978	C4	122
4) George Russell	Mercedes	+1.039	C5	71
5) Valtteri Bottas	Alfa Romeo	+1.265	C3 (medium)	68
6) Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri	+1.282	C4	57
7) Sergio Perez	Red Bull	+1.385	C3	43
8) Mick Schumacher	Haas	+1.431	C3	64
9) Lando Norris	McLaren	+1.471	C4	90
10) Sebastian Vettel	Aston Martin	+2.101	C3	81
11) Guanyu Zhou	Alfa Romeo	+2.239	C4	82
12) Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri	+3.145	C4	91
13) Carlos Sainz	Ferrari	+3.185	C5	68
14) Alex Albon	Williams	+3.451	C3	18
15) Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	+3.914	C3	124
16) Nicholas Latifi	Williams	+4.309	C3	53
17) Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	+4.497	C5	78
18) Kevin Magnussen	Haas	+6.896	C2 (hard)	38