F1 Bahrain Pre-season Test Day 3: Ferrari's Charles Leclerc Edges Out George Russell on Final Day of Testing

Ferrari maintained their lead in the final day of Formula 1 pre-season testing in Bahrain thanks to Charles Leclerc. To cap off a successful week for Ferrari, Leclerc set the pace on the final day of testing at Sakhir, following in the footsteps of colleague Carlos Sainz who had dominated the second day of running. On the softer C4s, Leclerc's time was slower than Sainz's second-day benchmark. After Sergio Perez of Red Bull took the lead in the final morning session, Carlos Sainz of Leclerc's team was unable to continue running due to a broken drain cover for the second day in a row. The decision was made to cancel the planned one-hour lunch break and continue all the way to the chequered flag at 7pm local time because maintenance stalled the test for 1h17. Adding to its testing woes this week, McLaren had an early problem with what seemed to be a clutch issue for Lando Norris. Meanwhile, Valtteri Bottas of Sauber drove a limited programme while his crew worked on the undercarriage and chassis of his  C44.

F1 Bahrain Pre-season Test: Day 3 Pre-season Result

George Russell demonstrated Mercedes' strength in the last moments of testing by finishing second, just 0.046 seconds behind leader Charles Leclerc. Zhou Guanyu finished third in his Sauber, 0.325 seconds behind the leaders, after utilising softs to make a late improvement. On Wednesday, Max Verstappen dominated, although he was only able to manage fourth place, 0.433 seconds behind the leaders. An interesting note is that Verstappen posted his best time on a used set of medium C3 tyres, suggesting that the Red Bull RB20 still has unrealized potential.

The lunch break was cancelled to make sure the entire eight hours of scheduled running were completed because of another lengthy red flag delay caused by a persistent problem with a loose drain cover. Yuki Tsunoda showed off RB speed by finishing fifth in a late run on C4 tyres.

On softer tyres, Alex Albon drove his Williams to sixth place in a remarkable late surge. After him came Oscar Piastri of McLaren and Fernando Alonso of Aston Martin, who finished in seventh and eighth place, respectively. Completing the top ten for Red Bull and Ferrari were Carlos Sainz and Sergio Perez. Lewis Hamilton, a seven-time world champion, finished third in the morning practice despite the interruptions, but he dropped to 12th overall.

Although Red Bull is now in the lead heading into the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix, Ferrari is feeling optimistic after their impressive performance in testing.