Last 8 hours of testing in Bahrain and then the countdown will officially begin which will take us towards the first Grand Prix of the season, next week. 8 hours to collect as much data, understand your strengths and weaknesses. In particular, the teams today will also concentrate largely on the qualifying simulation. The first session of the day ends with the best time by Charles Leclerc followed by George Russell and Felipe Drugovich.
The first to get on the track after the green light is his own Philip Drugovich, on Aston Martin back on track after the session on Friday morning to have as many kilometers on his feet in case he is called to replace Lance stroll the next weekend. Behind the Brazilian Valtteri Bottas, Oscar Piastri and Sergio Perez. The Mexican, as for Max Verstappen in first day test in Bahrain will have the RB19 available for the whole day. In the first few minutes the Mexican causes the first red flag to recover a piece of debris that he had lost.
Perez Day at Red Bullthere, and Mercedes black with rage
There is cautious optimism at Red Bull in Bahrain. The car is well balanced and the race pace simulations put it in an excellent position, even if the fuel loads cannot be known with certainty. During the first hour of the morning session, Perez was able to work on the race simulation - in particular the final stint - with the C3 tire and a constant 36″ pace. After the two hours of testing, Perez's stint times show a constant trend, and very low degradation.
Red Bull started 2023 as it ended 2022, from first force. Also thanks to a Ferrari that is not perfectly balanced, and which has to find the balance for the problems already highlighted last year, and a Mercedes with many problems in this testing phase. The latest in the day of yesterday, in which George Russell had to end the session early due to a hydraulic problem, and the W14 also lost load on the front axle.
Mercedes can get one car wrong, but can it get two wrong in a row? The sensation is the same as a year ago, when Mercedes realized that it had a project in its hands to revolutionize. The return to black of the W14 at the moment only reflects the mood in the pits of the three-pointed star. The same Toto wolff has flown the white flag, declaring that it needs updates immediately to make the W14 more similar to the other cars.
Leclerc starts at Ferrari
At Ferrari, the morning session this time was entrusted to Leclerc. Compared to the first day of testing, although the car appeared to understeer more, yesterday's work was more linear, especially with the harder compounds. The team is acting on every front, starting now to evolve the SF-23, to avoid being caught unprepared for the first round of the world championship. In the morning, after taking to the track, the Monegasque accused a problem at the DRS of the more loaded rear wing equipped with a mono-pylon support, which forced the team to further work on the SF-23, and to opt for a different configuration, with low downforce, therefore immediately interrupting the work of comparing the two specifications.
On the first flying lap of the morning in Bahrain, Leclerc immediately sets a high top speed of 327 km/h, indirectly confirming the same level of aerodynamic load as in the first two days. With softer tyres, the Monegasque's C4 at the second attempt improved his time with a 1:31.024, beating Russell who had set a 1:31.442 on the C5 tyre, and placing himself in first place after the first hour and a half of the session.
Comparison Mercedes – Ferrari
Between the two, the top speed was almost 10 km/h in favor of the Red. On the third attempt, Leclerc loses the rear and is forced to abort and restart, finding the understeer even later, in turn 11. Overall, working on programs other than Red Bull, the morning's confrontation was between Mercedes and Ferrari. With the same compound, Mercedes suffers somewhat from Ferrari performance, particularly in terms of top speed and changes of direction. The W14 despite being charged pays off even in slow motion.
Ferrari race pass, problems with the C3
The scenario with the yellow compounds at Ferrari sets off an alarm bell. The Monegasque took to the track in the last hour and a half of testing available to him, setting very high times, with a collapse after the first stint of just 11 laps. From 38"4 Charles passed to 41"5 and is therefore forced to return to the pits. Back on track with less than an hour to go, Charles tries again for a stint with the yellows, still lapping on the high 39″. The scenario does not seem to have changed. 11 laps and the situation is that of the previous stint. However, we must consider that the C3 will come to Bahrain in the race used like Soft. At Mercedes Russell instead switches to the C1, the white one, simulating the last stage of the race. However, the harder compound on Mercedes doesn't seem to work properly.
McLaren MCL “360”
Inside McLaren the prospects at least for the beginning of the season are not exactly positive. The MCL60 struggles to stay in the group and this is also demonstrated by the few laps done in the previous days and the backward positions. Oscar Piastri performed an unpleasant 360° on entry to turn 9 this morning, after scoring the best partial in the first sector, fortunately without consequences - apart from the set of tyres. Who knows if the Australian will regret the choice he made this summer, which was to leave Alpine for McLaren.
Piastri's MCL60 remained in the pits for several laps to reinforce the front wings, a problem already evident in recent days but to be resolved absolutely in view of the first Grand Prix of the season. Compared to McLaren at mid-group Aston Martin and Alpine have collected more interesting data.
Problem for Bottas
About an hour after the end of the morning session, the session stopped again but this time due to a problem on Valtteri Bottas' C43, which crashed in turn 8. Probably a mechanical problem related to the Power Unit or the gearbox. Bottas, after Drugovich and Russell is the third driver of this three-day test to have suffered a reliability problem. The first in the Ferrari-powered parterre.
While waiting for the afternoon session to begin, here are the end times of the first session of the last day of testing in Bahrain:
1. Leclerc (Ferrari) 1'31"024
2. Russell (Mercedes) 1'31"442
3. Drugovich (Aston Martin) 1'32"075
4. Perez (Red Bull) 1'32"459
5. Gasly (Alpine) 1'32"762
6. Albon (Williams) 1'32"793
7. Hulkenberg (Haas) 1'33"329
8. Piastri (Mclaren) 1'33″655
9. Bottas (Alfa Romeo) 1'36"854
10. De Vries (AlphaTauri) 1'38"244
