F1 testing results: Full Bahrain 2023 pre-season test lap times

Perez set the time on the last of the three days of testing, before the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix at the Sakhir circuit on March 5. Lewis Hamilton was second-quickest for Mercedes, ahead of Valtteri Bottas for Alfa Romeo.

Mercedes bounced back after a scare on day two, which led to an overnight investigation in its lack of pace, with the second-quickest time on the final day, set by George Russell.

Other day toppers included two-time world champion Max Verstappen for Red Bull Racing on the opening day, and Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu, who led day two in a shock result.

Bahrain testing results: Perez fastest for Red Bull Racing

Pos	Driver	23 Feb	24 Feb	25 Feb
1	Sergio Pérez Red Bull RB19 / Honda RBPT H001		1'33.751 76	1'30.305 133
2	Lewis Hamilton Mercedes F1 W14 E Performance / Mercedes F1 M14 E Performance	1'33.508 83	1'33.954 72	1'30.664 65
3	Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo C43 / Ferrari 066/10	1'34.558 71		1'30.827 131
4	Charles Leclerc Ferrari SF-23 / Ferrari 066/10	1'33.267 64	1'32.725 68	1'31.024 67
5	Carlos Sainz Jr. Ferrari SF-23 / Ferrari 066/10	1'33.253 72	1'32.486 70	1'31.036 76
6	Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri AT04 / Honda RBPT H001	1'34.671 46	1'35.708 85	1'31.261 79
7	Kevin Magnussen Haas VF-23 / Ferrari 066/10	1'35.087 57	1'33.442 67	1'31.381 95
8	George Russell Mercedes F1 W14 E Performance / Mercedes F1 M14 E Performance	1'34.174 69	1'33.654 26	1'31.442 83
9	Fernando Alonso Aston Martin AMR23 / Mercedes F1 M14 E Performance	1'32.866 60	1'32.205 130	1'31.450 80
10	Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo C43 / Ferrari 066/10	1'33.723 67	1'31.610 133
11	Max Verstappen Red Bull RB19 / Honda RBPT H001	1'32.837 157	1'31.650 47
12	Felipe Drugovich Aston Martin AMR23 / Mercedes F1 M14 E Performance	1'34.564 40		1'32.075 77
13	Lando Norris McLaren MCL60 / Mercedes F1 M14 E Performance	1'33.462 40	1'35.522 65	1'32.160 37
14	Nyck de Vries AlphaTauri AT04 / Honda RBPT H001	1'34.559 85	1'32.222 74	1'38.244 87
15	Nico Hülkenberg Haas VF-23 / Ferrari 066/10	1'34.424 51	1'32.466 68	1'33.329 77
16	Logan Sargeant Williams FW45 / Mercedes F1 M14 E Performance	1'34.324 75	1'32.549 154
17	Pierre Gasly Alpine A523 / Renault E-Tech RE23	1'34.822 60	1'33.186 59	1'32.762 56
18	Alexander Albon Williams FW45 / Mercedes F1 M14 E Performance	1'33.671 74		1'32.793 136
19	Oscar Piastri McLaren MCL60 / Mercedes F1 M14 E Performance	1'34.888 52	1'33.175 74	1'33.655 44
20	Esteban Ocon Alpine A523 / Renault E-Tech RE23	1'34.871 53	1'33.490 49	1'33.257 76

Bahrain testing stats: Alonso runs most laps

Order	Driver	Laps	km
1	Fernando Alonso	270	1461
2	Nyck de Vries	246	1331
3	Logan Sargeant	229	1239
4	Lewis Hamilton	220	1190
5	Kevin Magnussen	219	1185
6	Carlos Sainz Jr.	218	1179
7	Alexander Albon	210	1136
8	Yuki Tsunoda	210	1136
9	Sergio Pérez	209	1131
10	Max Verstappen	204	1104
11	Valtteri Bottas	202	1093
12	Zhou Guanyu	200	1082
13	Charles Leclerc	199	1076
14	Nico Hülkenberg	196	1060
15	Esteban Ocon	178	963
16	George Russell	178	963
17	Pierre Gasly	175	947
18	Oscar Piastri	170	920
19	Lando Norris	142	768
20	Felipe Drugovich	117	633

Bahrain testing stats: AlphaTauri logs most kilometers

Order	Make	Laps	km
1	AlphaTauri	456	2467
2	Williams	439	2375
3	Ferrari	417	2256
4	Haas	415	2245
5	Red Bull	413	2235
6	Alfa Romeo	402	2175
7	Mercedes	398	2153
8	Aston Martin	387	2094
9	Alpine	353	1910
10	McLaren	312	1688

Bahrain testing stats: Mercedes power units rack up the laps

Order	Engine	Laps	km
1	Mercedes	1536	8312
2	Ferrari	1234	6678
3	Honda RBPT	869	4703
4	Renault	353	1910

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, enters his cockpit (Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images)

What happened on day one in Bahrain F1 testing?

Verstappen, the only driver to run for the full day as all other F1 teams split their programmes, put in a 1m32.837s midway through the afternoon to improve on his effort that led the morning session.

Fernando Alonso, his Aston Martin running fresh C3 tyres, was only 0.029 seconds off Verstappen’s benchmark to cap a solid recovery, after the team’s day endured a false start when Felipe Drugovich – standing in for the injured Lance Stroll – suffered a sensor issue on his first out-lap which triggered the only red flag of the day.

Verstappen remained on top by the end of the opening day, having notched up 157 laps in total, to show strong pace and reliability from Red Bull’s RB19 on its first public outing.

Ferrari also enjoyed a decent start, with Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc third and fourth respectively, as the Italian squad comfortably pushed past a century of laps with the SF-23 F1 car.

Lando Norris lost time, stuck in the garage with the team repairing a wheel fairing issue, but he later took fifth place, six-tenths off Verstappen’s leading effort.

Hamilton led a solid day for Mercedes in sixth place.

Cla	Driver	Chassis	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval	km/h
1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	157	1'32.837			209.864
2	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin	60	1'32.866	0.029	0.029	209.799
3	Carlos Sainz	Ferrari	72	1'33.253	0.416	0.387	208.928
4	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	64	1'33.267	0.430	0.014	208.897
5	Lando Norris	McLaren	40	1'33.462	0.625	0.195	208.461
6	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	83	1'33.508	0.671	0.046	208.358
7	Alex Albon	Williams	74	1'33.671	0.834	0.163	207.996
8	Zhou Guanyu	Alfa Romeo	67	1'33.723	0.886	0.052	207.880
9	George Russell	Mercedes	69	1'34.174	1.337	0.451	206.885
10	Logan Sargeant	Williams	75	1'34.324	1.487	0.150	206.556
11	Nico Hulkenberg	Haas	51	1'34.424	1.587	0.100	206.337
12	Valtteri Bottas	Alfa Romeo	71	1'34.558	1.721	0.134	206.044
13	Nyck de Vries	AlphaTauri	85	1'34.559	1.722	0.001	206.042
14	Felipe Drugovich	Aston Martin	40	1'34.564	1.727	0.005	206.031
15	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri	46	1'34.671	1.834	0.107	205.799
16	Pierre Gasly	Alpine	60	1'34.822	1.985	0.151	205.471
17	Esteban Ocon	Alpine	53	1'34.871	2.034	0.049	205.365
18	Oscar Piastri	McLaren	52	1'34.888	2.051	0.017	205.328
19	Kevin Magnussen	Haas	57	1'35.087	2.250	0.199	204.898
View full results

Zhou Guanyu, Alfa Romeo C43 (Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images)

What happened on day two in Bahrain F1 testing?

Verstappen lit up the timesheet in the afternoon session in the RB19 and carved his way to the top spot with a 1m31.650s on the C3 tyres.

With 30 minutes to go Zhou, who completed the full day in the Alfa Romeo C43, strapped on a set of C5 tyres and posted a 1m31.610s to depose Verstappen by 0.040s.

Alonso put Aston Martin third on the overall times with a 1m32.205s set on the C3 tyres, as he completed the second test day alone with team-mate Stroll on the sidelines.

F1 rookie Nyck de Vries was another driver to try out the softer compounds towards the end of the day and went fourth using the C4 tyres with his AlphaTauri.

Nico Hulkenberg lifted Haas to fifth, also aided by running on the C4 compound tyres, to shuffle the Friday morning leader Sainz to sixth overall for Ferrari.

Mercedes missed the last 90 minutes of track action because Russell suffered a hydraulic failure which left him stuck in fourth gear and triggered the only breakdown-related red flag. He also languished 13th in the times.

Cla	Driver	Chassis	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval	km/h
1	Zhou Guanyu	Alfa Romeo	133	1'31.610			212.675
2	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	47	1'31.650	0.040	0.040	212.582
3	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin	130	1'32.205	0.595	0.555	211.303
4	Nyck de Vries	AlphaTauri	74	1'32.222	0.612	0.017	211.264
5	Nico Hulkenberg	Haas	68	1'32.466	0.856	0.244	210.706
6	Carlos Sainz	Ferrari	70	1'32.486	0.876	0.020	210.661
7	Logan Sargeant	Williams	154	1'32.549	0.939	0.063	210.517
8	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	68	1'32.725	1.115	0.176	210.118
9	Oscar Piastri	McLaren	74	1'33.175	1.565	0.450	209.103
10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine	59	1'33.186	1.576	0.011	209.078
11	Kevin Magnussen	Haas	67	1'33.442	1.832	0.256	208.505
12	Esteban Ocon	Alpine	49	1'33.490	1.880	0.048	208.398
13	George Russell	Mercedes	26	1'33.654	2.044	0.164	208.033
14	Sergio Perez	Red Bull	76	1'33.751	2.141	0.097	207.818
15	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	72	1'33.954	2.344	0.203	207.369
16	Lando Norris	McLaren	65	1'35.522	3.912	1.568	203.965
17	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri	85	1'35.708	4.098	0.186	203.569
View full results

Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing RB19 (Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images)

What happened on day three in Bahrain F1 testing?

Leclerc set the morning pace, but his time was soon beaten in the afternoon by Lewis Hamilton.

But nobody could stop Red Bull, and it was Perez who rocketed to the top of the times, first with 1m30.616s and then 1m30.305s, to put him 0.359s clear of Hamilton.

Bottas finished the day third for Alfa Romeo, two tenths clear of Leclerc’s morning time. Sainz was fractionally slower than his team-mate, with Yuki Tsunoda rounding out the top six for AlphaTauri.

Cla	Driver	Chassis	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval	km/h
1	Sergio Perez	Red Bull	133	1'30.305			215.748
2	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	65	1'30.664	0.359	0.359	214.894
3	Valtteri Bottas	Alfa Romeo	131	1'30.827	0.522	0.163	214.508
4	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	67	1'31.024	0.719	0.197	214.044
5	Carlos Sainz	Ferrari	76	1'31.036	0.731	0.012	214.016
6	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri	79	1'31.261	0.956	0.225	213.488
7	Kevin Magnussen	Haas	95	1'31.381	1.076	0.120	213.208
8	George Russell	Mercedes	83	1'31.442	1.137	0.061	213.066
9	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin	80	1'31.450	1.145	0.008	213.047
10	Felipe Drugovich	Aston Martin	77	1'32.075	1.770	0.625	211.601
11	Lando Norris	McLaren	37	1'32.160	1.855	0.085	211.406
12	Pierre Gasly	Alpine	56	1'32.762	2.457	0.602	210.034
13	Alex Albon	Williams	136	1'32.793	2.488	0.031	209.964
14	Esteban Ocon	Alpine	76	1'33.257	2.952	0.464	208.919
15	Nico Hulkenberg	Haas	77	1'33.329	3.024	0.072	208.758
16	Oscar Piastri	McLaren	44	1'33.655	3.350	0.326	208.031
17	Nyck de Vries	AlphaTauri	87	1'38.244	7.939	4.589	198.314
View full results