Bahrain test day overview: Bad stat for Red Bull Racing?
Red Bull Contentpool
F1 News
After an eventful three days, pre-season testing in Bahrain came to an end on Friday afternoon. Here is a complete overview of the fastest times achieved this week, as well as how many laps each driver completed, as teams now head to their factories to prepare their cars for the season-opening weekend in Australia.
Over the three-day event during the end of February, drivers had 12-12 hours of track time to themselves at the Bahrain International Circuit (an additional hour was also added after the power cut incident). In total, they completed 3896 laps in Sakhir, which means 21,090.564 kilometres. There were also additional red flags, for the glass shattering or a bus appearing on track on Friday.
The fastest time was set by Carlos Sainz and Williams, with a 1:29.348. The former Ferrari driver was followed by the two current ones, Lewis Hamilton (1:29.379) and Charles Leclerc (1:29.431).
George Russell had the fourth fastest time of testting with a 1:29.545, and is closely followed by Max Verstappen in P5. Liam Lawson finished 11th, while championship-hopeful Lando Norris had the 13th quickest time with a 1:30.430.
What were the fastest times by each F1 driver in Bahrain?
Still, it is hard to draw conclusions, as drivers also often reminded the fans in press moments. There were different weather conditions, at it is also unknown which engine modes the teams used, and how much fuel they carried.
Pirelli's Director of Motorsport, Mario Isola, also stressed the importance of the conditions. "We’ve had three rather unusual testing days here in Bahrain. For years now, Formula 1 has chosen this circuit for the only pre-season test because the weather is usually very favourable, but that was not the case this week, especially the first two days."
" Low temperatures, considerably lower than at this time of year in previous years, and strong wind affected the teams’ work and made it even harder than usual to interpret the results, with no previous reference points on this track at such low temperatures," the Italian added.
For Pirelli, testing is yet to be concluded in the desert, as a two-day tyre test follows. There, Williams drivers Sainz and Alexander Albon, and Alpine reserve drivers Paul Aron and Ryo Hirakawa will be in action.
How many laps did all F1 teams complete during the test days in Bahrain?
The team that collectively completed the most laps in Bahrain is Mercedes. Russell and Andrea Kimi Antonelli combined to complete 458 laps. The Haas team follows in second place with 457 laps. Racing Bulls has completed 454 laps.
Mercedes completed the most laps in Bahrain, with 458. Haas follow them in second place with 457, and they could have just overtaken the German team if Oliver Bearman's engine cover didn't flew off on the final day. Racing Bulls with Yuki Tsunoda and Isack Hadjar finished third with 454 laps.
Alpine and Williams finished with 405 and 395 laps respectively, and they were followed by possible contenders Ferrari and McLaren. The Scuderia did 382, the Woking-based squad did 381 laps.
Sauber completed 354 laps, and at the bottom of these standings, Aston Martin did 306 and Red Bull Racing finished with 304.
This article was written in collaboration with Sandy van Wijngaarden
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