The final day of testing saw Perez behind the wheel for Red Bull, Bottas for Alfa Romeo and Albon for Williams, while all the other teams made the choice to split testing duties between their two drivers.
Saturday morning also saw the return on track of Felipe Drugovich, reserve driver for Aston Martin, who was the first driver out today on the Bahrain track. The reigning Formula 2 champion is stepping in once again to replace Lance Stroll, who suffered from an arm injury while training
Ten minutes into the session the first red flag of the day was brought out due to Sergio Perez losing an aero sensor from the back of his car, during which Charles Leclerc’s rear wing was substituted due to a DRS flap issue. Ferrari was testing a prototype with higher downforce, but returned to the usual configuration, ran also in the past days.
Piastri spun out at Turn 10 after scoring the best time in the first sector, being the first driver of the 2023 season to go off track. The Australian rookie had another moment later in the morning session, going wide at Turn 1.
George Russell goes fastest on softs in 1:31.707 after having stopped on track during yesterday’s afternoon session. Mercedes has explained that the issue was caused by a failure of the hydraulic pump, and that it had been solved.
Williams tested out a new wing front wing for Albon, who appears to be more focused on trying out different set ups rather than setting faster times. New parts to test for Aston Martin’s Drugovich as well, with the AMR23 sporting a new rear wing.
Two hours in the session, Piastri has to stop at the pits after only 25 laps and step out of the car as McLaren has to fix the front winglets with “temporary strengthening work”, as per the team’s own words.
At this point in the session, most of the drivers are focusing on long test runs and race simulations in order to prepare for the upcoming inaugural race of the 2023 season. The fastest lap time is held by Charles Leclerc in 1:31.024 on C2.
The second red flag of the day was brought out by Valtteri Bottas’s Alfa Romeo, which stopped on track due to what had seemed a gearbox issue at first, but was then later confirmed by the Italian-Swiss team to be a Ferrari power unit failure instead.
First out after the restart is Felipe Drugovich, looking forward to get some more F1 running time in in case he is called up to replace Stroll for the Bahrain GP next week, as Albon manages to improve his best lap in spite of bouncing in the last corners. Another driver who’s improving at the end of the session is De Vries for AlphaTauri, setting his best time in 1:38.004.
The final minutes of both sessions were spent just like in the past days with safety car simulations, a red flag test and starts.
Nyck de Vries was the driver with the most laps completed in the morning session, 87, whereas McLaren’s issues only allowed Piastri to do 44 laps.
The first driver out on track in the afternoon session was Esteban Ocon, with Sainz a close second out. The first timed lap is signed by Kevin Magnussen in 1:35.522s.
After missing out on a good portion of the morning session, Bottas was finally able to resume his testing with almost an hour of delay. Aston Martin as well worked for a long time around their car, with Alonso not able to complete a timed lap until an hour. His first lap puts him in provisional P7, with a 1:33.125.
Most of the drivers on track tested out the C3 compound in the afternoon, with Yuki Tsunoda on the C2. Lewis Hamilton appears to be stuck at the back of the timetable, only managing to improve from P16 to P13 as he ran wide in the final sector during his best timed lap so far in 1:35.072. The British driver however is still struggling with balance at the exit of Turn 8, returning to the pits to investigate the issue.
In spite of the good lap put in by Alonso, the Spanish driver has managed to put in only 10 laps in the first hour and a half as Aston Martin is still working on his AMR23. Sets the fifth best time, but returns immediately after to the box.
Sainz went on a push lap on the same tyres Leclerc signed the best time of the morning session and slots in P2. His best attempt is only 0.012s off the time signed by his teammate.
Among the drivers who have run both in the morning and in the afternoon, Perez is the first to complete 100 laps, shortly after joined by Albon and Bottas at last.
In the final two hours of testing, drivers switch to faster compounds and qualifying simulations, with Norris improving to P8 and Hamilton in P3 just behind the Ferraris on the ultrasofts.
McLaren as well is still working on the strengthening of the front winglets, limiting Norris’s running time. With a little more than an hour to the end of the session, the British driver has completed only 17 laps.
Hamilton goes fastest on a fresh set of C5, but his time is improved by 0.150s by Sergio Perez, on top with a 1:30.616 on the C4. The Mercedes driver can’t return in front, as his next fastest attempt is 0.048s off the time signed off by the Red Bull driver.
Other drivers climbing up the standings are Tsunoda, in P5, and Magnussen, firstly to P8 and then to P6. Perez lowers his time as well, going under the pole time signed off in the 2022 inaugural Bahrain round by Charles Leclerc.
The afternoon sessions appear to be favourable to Alfa Romeo, as after Zhou Guanyu setting the fastest time yesterday, it’s Bottas’s time to shine after a hard morning, slotting in P3 behind his former teammate Lewis Hamilton.
Perez ultimately ended fastest as he logged a 1:30.305 using the C4 tyre.
Photos: Red Bull Content Pool
