George Russell capped off the ultimate day of Formula One pre-season testing in Bahrain with Mercedes on high, surpassing reigning world champion Max Verstappen within the closing minutes on Friday.
The British driver accomplished 91 laps and posted the quickest time of the day, clocking in at 1:29.545 across the floodlit Sakhir circuit.
While sooner than Verstappen, Russell’s time was nonetheless behind the 1:29.348 set by Carlos Sainz of Williams on Thursday. Sainz’s teammate, Alex Albon, positioned third on Friday, simply 0.105 seconds slower than Russell after a powerful 137 laps.
Four-time world champion Verstappen accomplished a full day of testing and completed 0.021 seconds behind Russell’s time.
“There were a few little problems, but overall, we completed quite a bit of what we wanted to do. I think it wasn’t bad, but at the same time, there is still a bit of work to do,” stated Verstappen.
Australian Oscar Piastri was fourth for champions McLaren, who’ve completed an excellent job staying underneath the radar by displaying flashes of pace however aborting laps that would have put them within the highlight.
“We tried a lot of things and learned a lot. Some things felt quite good, others still need improvement, but working through this is exactly what testing is for,” stated Piastri.
“The car ran pretty much faultlessly, which was a solid place to be starting from. We’ve got a lot to review before Melbourne, but I think we’re going into it in decent shape,” he added, referring to the season opener in Australia on March 16.
Red flags
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was quickest in a four-hour morning session, bizarrely interrupted by a pane of glass falling out of the starter’s field and shattering on the observe.
That was adopted by one other crimson flag within the afternoon when a bus appeared on the runoff space as some vehicles had been on the observe.
Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton, now with Ferrari, was sixth general for his new group, behind Alpine’s Pierre Gasly in fifth, after ending sooner than deliberate with 47 laps.
“Overall, it’s been a great few days, and we’ve made some strong progress as a team,” stated the Briton. “We’ve managed to gather a lot of good information to build on before the season starts.”
Mercedes’ 18-year-old Italian rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli was second within the morning, 0.077 seconds slower than Leclerc’s greatest lap of 1:30.811, however dropped to tenth general by the top.
“It’s hard to know what fuel loads everyone is running, as we’re all doing our own different programs, so you have to take everything with a pinch of salt,” stated Hamilton of what he had seen to this point.
“McLaren won the constructors’ last year. We expect them to be one of the quickest, if not the quickest, as with Red Bull, who dominated for many, many years.”
Aston Martin had a day of adjustments, with Lance Stroll initially reported unwell for the morning session and Fernando Alonso driving as a substitute.
The Canadian returned for the afternoon however then felt unwell once more after 34 laps, and Alonso stepped again in for the ultimate hour.
“Initial feedback from Lance and Fernando suggests we have made progress with the drivability of the car, but we have also discovered areas that could be better and need more focus,” stated group principal Mike Krack.
Source: www.dailysabah.com