3rd day – Pérez ahead of Leclerc, busy morning for Räikkönen

The end of pre-season testing is near and it shows. This Sunday morning, the teams gave their respective drivers a lot of time on the track.

If he is the man with fewer laps on the clock at the end of these first four hours of driving, Sergio Pérez (Red Bull) did not deprive himself of driving fast. With 49 loops in total, the Mexican took the opportunity to string together quick relays.

In the end, he dominated the timesheet with a time of 1'30"187, the fastest since the start of testing on Friday. Enough to envisage a passage below 1'30 this afternoon.

Who's excited to see @SChecoPerez back here racing in two weeks time?  pic.twitter.com/Lb2aGXLFuG

- Red Bull Racing (@redbullracing) March 14, 2021

With a very busy program this Sunday morning (80 laps), Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) worked a lot with medium tires. But it was with the hard range that the Monegasque set the 2nd time of the session, just ahead Lando Norris (McLaren) very comfortable since the start of the weekend.

Our French were also out this morning with Pierre Gasly for Alpha Tauri and Esteban Ocon in Alpine. The two Normans finished 4th and 5th respectively in the session, 0 and 6 behind Sergio Pérez.

For his last before the first Grand Prix of the year, Mick Schumacher (Haas) completed no less than 78 totals, enough to gain experience in preparation for his debut in the big leagues at the end of the month.

Laps, laps, laps 

A very busy track on our final morning in the Bahrain sun#F1 #F1Testing pic.twitter.com/kUryBx8ITt

— Formula 1 (@F1) March 14, 2021

Finally on the track, George Russell (Williams) was able to debut his FW43B in Sakhir. The Englishman relied on long stints with 77 laps before surely moving up a gear this afternoon. He finished just behind Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes).

Ninth at the finish, Kimi Räikkönen (Alfa Romeo) is the one who drove the most this Sunday morning. Resting on Saturday, Ice Man was studious and serious with 91 laps covered in just under 4 hours.

The last session of these pre-season tests is scheduled for 13:00 p.m. (French time) this Saturday and will always be followed on AUTOhebdo.