MADRID, 12 Mar. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Dutch driver Max Verstappen (Red Bull), current world champion, was the fastest on the third and last day of the Formula 1 pre-season test in Bahrain, before the start of the World Cup and in which the Spanish Fernando Alonso ( Alpine) finished third just behind Monegasque Charles Leclerc (Ferrari).
In the last test, especially in the afternoon session, before the traffic lights go out next week in Sakhir, the teams have shown their cards and the results are surprising: Red Bull and Ferrari have exhibited their spectacular pace, while Mercedes it just doesn’t boot up.
“At the moment, I don’t think we are competing for wins. Everyone sees that we are not the fastest. Ferrari seems to be the fastest, and maybe Red Bull, and then maybe us, or McLaren,” said Briton Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) , which only rolled in the morning, where he was seventh, and finished seventeenth of the day. “Next week we’ll get a better sample of our pace, but people might be surprised,” he added.
Verstappen, aboard the new ‘RB18’ with the pontoons changed, surprised everyone by setting, with more than two hours to go, a time of 1:32.645 with medium tires that improved his time by almost half a second. teammate, the Mexican Sergio ‘Checo’ Pérez, who had been the fastest in the morning session. After the last red flag and already with the soft ones, he lowered the mark twice to leave it at 1: 31.720.
Leclerc finished behind him, evidencing the solvency of the new Ferrari, called to fight for the title and conquer it for the first time since 2007. With 1:32.415, he took his car to second place, while his teammate, the Spanish Carlos Sainz, finished thirteenth day.
Much more surprising was the third place of Alonso, who slipped ahead of George Russell’s Mercedes to sign his best day of preseason with the ‘A522’. In 122 laps, the Asturian marked a 1:32.698, with C4 tires, which allowed him to get on the ‘podium’.
After Russell, fourth, concluded the ex-pilot of the ‘silver arrows’, the Finn Valtteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo), who completed the ‘Top 5’ and caused a red flag after his car stopped at turn 4, apparently due to gearbox problems, with 40 minutes remaining in the session.