Formula 1 News: Leclerc’s Ferrari tops morning times on final preseason test day

Charles Leclerc (pictured) in the #16 Ferrari turned a lap of 1m33.689s to lead the morning test times on the final day of Formula 1 preseason testing at the Bahrain International Circuit.

–by Mark Cipolloni–

The Ferrari man did not top the lap count in the end though, as he was just pipped by Esteban Ocon in the Haas who managed a very impressive 82 laps, to Leclerc’s 80. Both are Ferrari powered cars, and the Ferrari engine has shown great reliability throughout the preseason.

Kimi Antonelli was 2nd for Mercedes, 0.227s behind Leclerc. However, the Mercedes had a problem and stopped out on the track and had to be flat-bedding back to the paddock.

Oscar Piastri was third in his #81 McLaren, 0.663s behind Leclerc.  Piastri also lost running time with the McLaren crew working on the rear of their car for around half an hour.

Haas’ Esteban Ocon was another busy driver, ticking off a race distance and more en route to fourth, with Isack Hadjar fifth in a solid morning for Red Bull, even though the Frenchman was seen punching the air in frustration after going deep at Turn 8 trying to replicate the downshifts teammate Max Verstappen was doing.

Pierre Gasly and Arvid Lindblad followed in sixth and seventh for Alpine and Racing Bulls respectively, the latter being praised by his race engineer during a longer run, ahead of Williams’ Carlos Sainz and Audi’s Nico Hulkenberg in 8th and 9th.

10th was the Cadillac of Sergio Perez, a massive 7.1s behind Leclerc.

Bahrain Week 2, Day 3 Morning Test Times