Formula 1

Red Bull and Perez lead pre-season F1 testing

Published

4 weeks ago

25/02/2023

Red Bull and Perez lead pre-season F1 testing

At the conclusion of the three-day pre-season test in Bahrain, Red Bull emerged with the quickest time, thanks to Sergio Perez’s performance.

On the final day of testing, Sergio Perez had the RB19 car to himself, as his Red Bull teammate and reigning champion Max Verstappen had completed his testing program the previous day. Perez steadily reduced his lap times throughout the day, eventually setting the fastest time on the C4 compound, which is the second-softest tyre available.

Sergio Perez’s time of 1m30.305s not only marked an improvement on his own performance in last year’s Bahrain test, but also exceeded the pole time set by Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc in the previous year’s season opener at the same circuit, albeit on a softer tyre compound. It is worth noting that the C4 compound used by Perez during the test will not be available during the Bahrain Grand Prix this year, with the C1, C2, and C3 compounds being the options available instead.

Mercedes appeared to have a better day compared to the previous ones, and Lewis Hamilton finished in second place, about three and a half tenths behind Perez. Hamilton set his fastest time on the softest C5 tyre.

Valtteri Bottas, who had the Alfa Romeo C43 car to himself for the day, completed the top three, setting a time half a second behind Perez’s on the C5 compound. Bottas is a former teammate of Hamilton’s.

During the afternoon, Carlos Sainz of Ferrari was the fourth-fastest driver on the C4 compound, although his time was only good enough for fifth place overall, falling 0.012s short of his teammate Charles Leclerc’s effort on the same compound during the day.

Yuki Tsunoda of AlphaTauri was the final driver within a second of Perez’s time, with his best lap set on the C4 compound. Haas driver Kevin Magnussen was just behind Tsunoda in the rankings, also setting his best time on the C4 compound.

The Aston Martin AMR23, which was arguably one of the standout cars during testing, took some time to return to the track after the midday switch from Felipe Drugovich to Fernando Alonso. The car also experienced a prolonged period in the pits during the day.

Despite the delay, Fernando Alonso managed to complete 77 laps by the end of the day, placing him in ninth position, between the morning’s fastest runner George Russell of Mercedes and Felipe Drugovich.

McLaren was the only team that failed to complete over 100 laps, which is considered a dubious achievement in F1 testing.

Oscar Piastri was limited to 44 laps in the morning session due to brake issues, and Lando Norris, who finished 11th on the C3 compound, spent a considerable amount of time in the pit lane in the afternoon due to an unspecified concern, which was later reported to be linked to the MCL60’s aero appendages. However, Norris was able to nearly double his lap count during the final hour of testing, ultimately finishing the day with a total of 37 laps.

Alpine did not appear to engage in any low-fuel performance running during the day, with Esteban Ocon finishing in 14th place during the afternoon session, driving a noticeably bouncy A523. Ocon finished just behind Williams driver Alex Albon, who covered the most distance of any driver during the day with 136 laps.

The afternoon session, which lasted for 4 hours and 15 minutes, concluded with a lively rolling start practice followed by a standing start rehearsal. This was the final collective track action for the F1 teams before the 2023 season officially begins with the opening practice of the Bahrain Grand Prix weekend on March 3.

Here is the table of the pre-season testing results:

Position	Driver	Team	Time	Tyre	Laps
1	Perez	Red Bull	1m30.305s	C4	125
2	Hamilton	Mercedes	1m30.664s	C5	51
3	Bottas	Alfa Romeo	1m30.827s	C5	120
4	Leclerc	Ferrari	1m31.024s	C4	67
5	Sainz	Ferrari	1m31.036s	C4	66
6	Tsunoda	AlphaTauri	1m31.261s	C4	65
7	Magnussen	Haas	1m31.381s	C4	87
8	Russell	Mercedes	1m31.442s	C5	83
9	Alonso	Aston Martin	1m31.450s	C4	66
10	Drugovich	Aston Martin	1m32.075s	C5	77
11	Norris	McLaren	1m32.160s	C3	22
12	Gasly	Alpine	1m32.762s	C3	56
13	Albon	Williams	1m32.793s	C5	136
14	Ocon	Alpine	1m33.357s	C3	62
15	Hulkenberg	Haas	1m33.329s	C3	77
16	Piastri	McLaren	1m33.655s	C3	44
17	De Vries	AlphaTauri	1m38.244s	C3	87

The distance covered by the drivers.

Driver	Team	Distance	Laps
Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin	1461.24	270
Nyck de Vries	Scuderia AlphaTauri	1331.352	246
Logan Sargeant	Williams	1239.348	229
Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1190.64	220
Kevin Magnussen	Haas	1185.228	219
Carlos Sainz	Ferrari	1179.816	218
Yuki Tsunoda	Scuderia AlphaTauri	1136.52	210
Alex Albon	Williams	1136.52	210
Sergio Perez	Red Bull	1131.108	209
Max Verstappen	Red Bull	1104.048	204
Valtteri Bottas	Alfa Romeo Sauber	1093.224	202
Guanyu Zhou	Alfa Romeo Sauber	1082.4	200
Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	1076.988	199
Nico Hulkenberg	Haas	1060.752	196
George Russell	Mercedes	963.336	178
Esteban Ocon	Alpine	963.336	178
Pierre Gasly	Alpine	947.1	175
Oscar Piastri	McLaren	920.04	170
Lando Norris	McLaren	768.504	142
Felipe Drugovich	Aston Martin	633.204	117

The distance covered by the Teams.

Team	Day 1 Mileage	Day 2 Mileage	Day 3 Mileage	Total
Alfa Romeo Sauber	746.856	719.796	708.972	2175.624
Scuderia AlphaTauri	708.972	860.508	898.392	2467.872
Alpine	611.556	584.496	714.384	1910.436
Aston Martin	541.2	703.56	849.684	2094.444
Ferrari	736.032	746.856	773.916	2256.804
Haas	584.496	730.62	930.864	2245.98
McLaren	497.904	752.268	438.372	1688.544
Mercedes	822.624	530.376	800.976	2153.976
Red Bull	849.684	665.676	719.796	2235.156
Williams	806.388	833.448	736.032	2375.868

The distance covered by the power unit.

Power Unit	Day 1	Day 2	Day 3	Total	Avg
Ferrari	2067.384	2197.272	2413.752	6678.408	2226.136
Honda	1558.656	1526.184	1618.188	4703.028	2351.514
Renault	611.556	584.496	714.384	1910.436	1910.436
Mercedes	2668.116	2819.652	2825.064	8312.832	2078.208