F1 2023 Testing Results – Day 3 (Bahrain)

Thomas Maher
Aston Martin's Felipe Drugovich testing in Bahrain. Sakhir, February 2023.

Aston Martin's Felipe Drugovich testing in Bahrain. Sakhir, February 2023.

Here are the testing results from the ongoing three-day event in Bahrain, where the third day is underway.

The final day of Formula 1’s official pre-season test for 2023 is underway in Bahrain, with the last precious hours of track time available to the teams before next weekend’s season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix.

Each team runs one car for the day, with the one-hour lunch break giving the teams the opportunity to swap out drivers if they choose to do so.

Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu set the pace on the C5 tyre on Day 2, while Ferrari have logged the fastest time so far of the final morning.

Charles Leclerc popped in a 1:31.164 on the C4 tyre to be just under three-tenths ahead of George Russell’s Mercedes after a late night for the Brackley-based team following a relatively troubled day on Friday.

At Aston Martin, who are still adjusting to testing without the services of Lance Stroll, Felipe Drugovich is at the wheel of the AMR23 for the morning session before handing over to Fernando Alonso for the final few hours of the day.

During the morning, there was a brief red flag to allow for the retrieval of an errant sensor strip from Sergio Perez’s Red Bull, while Oscar Piastri had a dramatic spin at Turn 10 just after the first hour had elapsed – he was able to recover back to the track without issue.

With just over an hour to go before the lunch break, Alfa Romeo brought out the red flags as Valtteri Bottas came to a stop on track – the car is back with the team, who are investigating the issue, believed to be related to the Ferrari power unit.

Speaking of Ferrari, it was the Scuderia who ultimately set the pace for the opening session.

The clock restarted for the afternoon session with plenty of driver swaps taking place, with Carlos Sainz, Kevin Magnussen, Fernando Alonso, Esteban Ocon, Lewis Hamilton, Yuki Tsunoda and Lando Norris all climbing into their respective cockpits for the afternoon and evening’s running.

And it was Hamilton who put his Mercedes at the top of the timesheets, putting on the softest C5 compound tyres and lapping in a 1:30.781, just two tenths shy of the pole position time from last season, before Perez went even quicker on the C4s just a few minutes later.

It was another productive day all round throughout the field, with the teams getting the final laps under their belts before the season gets going in earnest next weekend at the same circuit.

Bahrain F1 2023 Testing Results – Day 3

1 Sergio PEREZ Red Bull 1:30.305 133 laps C4 tyre
2 Lewis HAMILTON Mercedes +0.359 65 C5
3 Valtteri BOTTAS Alfa Romeo +0.522 131 C5
4 Charles LECLERC Ferrari +0.719 67 C4
5 Carlos SAINZ Ferrari +0.731 76 C4
6 Yuki TSUNODA AlphaTauri +0.956 79 C4
7 Kevin MAGNUSSEN Haas +1.076 95 C4
8 George RUSSELL Mercedes +1.137 83 C5
9 Fernando ALONSO Aston Martin +1.145 80 C4
10 Felipe DRUGOVICH Aston Martin +1.770 77 C5
11 Lando NORRIS McLaren +1.855 37 C3
12 Pierre GASLY Alpine +2.457 56 C3
13 Alexander ALBON Williams +2.488 136 C5
14 Esteban OCON Alpine +2.952 76 C3
15 Nico HULKENBERG Haas +3.024 77 C3
16 Oscar PIASTRI McLaren +3.350 44 C3
17 Nyck DE VRIES AlphaTauri +7.939 87 C3