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Charles Bradley

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 Netherlands Max Verstappen Red Bull 157 1'32.837     209.864
2 Spain Fernando Alonso Aston Martin 60 1'32.866 0.029 0.029 209.799
3 Spain Carlos Sainz Ferrari 72 1'33.253 0.416 0.387 208.928
4 Monaco Charles Leclerc Ferrari 64 1'33.267 0.430 0.014 208.897
5 United Kingdom Lando Norris McLaren 40 1'33.462 0.625 0.195 208.461
6 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 83 1'33.508 0.671 0.046 208.358
7 Thailand Alex Albon Williams 74 1'33.671 0.834 0.163 207.996
8 China Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo 67 1'33.723 0.886 0.052 207.880
9 United Kingdom George Russell Mercedes 69 1'34.174 1.337 0.451 206.885
10 United States Logan Sargeant Williams 75 1'34.324 1.487 0.150 206.556
11 Germany Nico Hulkenberg Haas 51 1'34.424 1.587 0.100 206.337
12 Finland Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo 71 1'34.558 1.721 0.134 206.044
13 Netherlands Nyck de Vries AlphaTauri 85 1'34.559 1.722 0.001 206.042
14 Brazil Felipe Drugovich Aston Martin 40 1'34.564 1.727 0.005 206.031
15 Japan Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri 46 1'34.671 1.834 0.107 205.799
16 France Pierre Gasly Alpine 60 1'34.822 1.985 0.151 205.471
17 France Esteban Ocon Alpine 53 1'34.871 2.034 0.049 205.365
18 Australia Oscar Piastri McLaren 52 1'34.888 2.051 0.017 205.328
19 Denmark Kevin Magnussen Haas 57 1'35.087 2.250 0.199 204.898
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 China Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo 133 1'31.610     212.675
2 Netherlands Max Verstappen Red Bull 47 1'31.650 0.040 0.040 212.582
3 Spain Fernando Alonso Aston Martin 130 1'32.205 0.595 0.555 211.303
4 Netherlands Nyck de Vries AlphaTauri 74 1'32.222 0.612 0.017 211.264
5 Germany Nico Hulkenberg Haas 68 1'32.466 0.856 0.244 210.706
6 Spain Carlos Sainz Ferrari 70 1'32.486 0.876 0.020 210.661
7 United States Logan Sargeant Williams 154 1'32.549 0.939 0.063 210.517
8 Monaco Charles Leclerc Ferrari 68 1'32.725 1.115 0.176 210.118
9 Australia Oscar Piastri McLaren 74 1'33.175 1.565 0.450 209.103
10 France Pierre Gasly Alpine 59 1'33.186 1.576 0.011 209.078
11 Denmark Kevin Magnussen Haas 67 1'33.442 1.832 0.256 208.505
12 France Esteban Ocon Alpine 49 1'33.490 1.880 0.048 208.398
13 United Kingdom George Russell Mercedes 26 1'33.654 2.044 0.164 208.033
14 Mexico Sergio Perez Red Bull 76 1'33.751 2.141 0.097 207.818
15 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 72 1'33.954 2.344 0.203 207.369
16 United Kingdom Lando Norris McLaren 65 1'35.522 3.912 1.568 203.965
17 Japan Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri 85 1'35.708 4.098 0.186 203.569
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 Mexico Sergio Perez Red Bull 133 1'30.305     215.748
2 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 65 1'30.664 0.359 0.359 214.894
3 Finland Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo 131 1'30.827 0.522 0.163 214.508
4 Monaco Charles Leclerc Ferrari 67 1'31.024 0.719 0.197 214.044
5 Spain Carlos Sainz Ferrari 76 1'31.036 0.731 0.012 214.016
6 Japan Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri 79 1'31.261 0.956 0.225 213.488
7 Denmark Kevin Magnussen Haas 95 1'31.381 1.076 0.120 213.208
8 United Kingdom George Russell Mercedes 83 1'31.442 1.137 0.061 213.066
9 Spain Fernando Alonso Aston Martin 80 1'31.450 1.145 0.008 213.047
10 Brazil Felipe Drugovich Aston Martin 77 1'32.075 1.770 0.625 211.601
11 United Kingdom Lando Norris McLaren 37 1'32.160 1.855 0.085 211.406
12 France Pierre Gasly Alpine 56 1'32.762 2.457 0.602 210.034
13 Thailand Alex Albon Williams 136 1'32.793 2.488 0.031 209.964
14 France Esteban Ocon Alpine 76 1'33.257 2.952 0.464 208.919
15 Germany Nico Hulkenberg Haas 77 1'33.329 3.024 0.072 208.758
16 Australia Oscar Piastri McLaren 44 1'33.655 3.350 0.326 208.031
17 Netherlands Nyck de Vries AlphaTauri 87 1'38.244 7.939 4.589 198.314

 

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