Perez and Red Bull lead F1 preseason testing midway thru final day

Completing only 49 laps, Red Bull’s new driver, Sergio Perez of Mexico, turned the fastest lap at 1m30.187s to lead the morning session on the final day of F1 preseason testing in Bahrain.

Charles Leclerc was 2nd quick, 0.299s behind Perez in the #16 Ferrari, logging 80 laps.

Lando Norris was 3rd – 0.474s behind Perez in his #4 McLaren.

Charles Leclerc 2nd quick. credit: @Scuderia Ferrari Press Office

Pierre Gasly was fourth for AlphaTauri with a 1m30.828s on soft Pirellis, followed by Alpine’s Esteban Ocon and Haas rookie Mick Schumacher.

Valtteri Bottas continued to not look quite at home in the Mercedes W12, understeering off track twice at Turn 13 throughout the morning, before eventually ending up seventh – but at least with a healthy 86 laps under his belt.

Russell ended his first session in the 2021 Williams in eighth, followed by Alfa Romeo veteran Kimi Raikkonen and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll – both on hard tires they focussed on race setups on hard tires.

Day 3 Times at Lunch Break

POS	DRIVER	NAT.	TEAM	TIME	BEHIND	LAPS
1	Sergio Perez	MEX	Red Bull Racing	1m30.309s	+0.000s	49
2	Charles Leclerc	MON	Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow	1m30.486s	+0.299s	80
3	Lando Norris	GBR	McLaren F1 Team	1m30.661s	+0.474s	56
4	Pierre Gasly	FRA	Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda	1m30.828s	+0.641s	76
5	Esteban Ocon	FRA	Alpine F1 Team	1m31.310s	+1.123s	61
6	Mick Schumacher	GER	Uralkali Haas F1 Team	1m32.053s	+1.866s	78
7	Valtteri Bottas	FIN	Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team	1m32.406s	+2.219s	86
8	George Russell	GBR	Williams Racing	1m32.731s	+2.544s	77
9	Kimi Raikkonen	FIN	Alfa Romeo Racing Orlen	1m35.274s	+4.965s	91
9	Lance Stroll	CAN	Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team	1m36.100s	+5.087s	80