How fast was Verstappen really? 'C4 was used at the fastest moment'

20:37, 15 Mar 2021
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If we are to believe Pirelli boss Mario Isola, the tyres held up well during the test in Bahrain but the Italian is not yet able to say what the lap times of the drivers are worth.

Pirelli tyres held up well

"Throughout all three days, all the compounds performed well and no problems such as graining emerged: only light abrasion on the softest compounds," Isola is quoted by The Checkered Flag.

During testing it is always difficult to determine how fast a driver has really been. It's unknown how much fuel the drivers put on the track and if they go to the limit during a run. What is known is that the difference between the C2 and C3 tyre is about half a second.

Verstappen set fastest lap at right moment

Max Verstappen set the fastest lap of all, which he did on the C4 tyre, but Isola can't say clearly how fast that time really was: "The gap between C3 and C4 is bigger than expected, with the C4 driven by many cars when the track was at its fastest," Isola added. How fast the times really are, we will only know during the qualification of the first Grand Prix.

Full times list

Driver Time Tyre
Max Verstappen 1:28.960 C4
Yuki Tsunoda 1:29.053 C5
Carlos Sainz 1:29.611 C4
Kimi Raikkonen 1:29.766 C5
Lewis Hamilton 1:30.025 C5
George Russell 1:30.117 C5
Daniel Ricciardo 1:30.144 C4
Sergio Perez 1:30.187 C4
Valtteri Bottas 1:30.289 C5
Fernando Alonso 1:30.318 C4
Pierre Gasly 1:30.413 C5
Lance Stroll 1:30.460 C5
Charles Leclerc 1:30.486 C3
Lando Norris 1:30.586 C4
Antonio Giovinazzi 1:30.760 C5
Esteban Ocon 1:31.146 C4
Nikita Mazepin 1:31.531 C4
Nicholas Latifi 1:31.672 C4
Mick Schumacher 1:32.053 C3
Sebastian Vettel 1:33.742 Prototype
Roy Nissany 1:34.789 C3