F1 | Bahrain Test, Day 3: the last sharp one goes to Ferrari with Leclerc

The last flash of the tests is red. Or rather, the Red one. Ferrari also set the best time on the last day of pre-season testing in Sakhir, Bahrain, which was archived today thanks to Charles Leclerc, but, as always, these are just tests. The season will start in a week and then everyone will set fire to the powder. Yet, we have already been able to appreciate something interesting today.

On a chronometric level, as mentioned, Charles Leclerc set a 1'30″322 which is certainly not the fastest lap of the three days of testing, but it was enough to finish ahead of everyone today using a set of C4 compounds. These, remember, they will not be brought by Pirelli for the Grand Prix which will be held in 7 days. The Softs, in fact, will be the C3s.

But it doesn't matter, at least for now. Leclerc did 46 thousandths better than George Russell's Mercedes W15, also equipped with C4. It should be noted that the black-silver Arrow's best time was achieved when the session was almost over, in darkness and on a much cooler and faster track than Leclerc.

GuanYu Zhou also took advantage of this, doing well in taking advantage of a set of C4s to bring the Sauber C44 to third place, 325 thousandths behind Leclerc. The first single-seater in the standings to have achieved the time with C3 compounds is Max Verstappen's Red Bull RB20, which we find in fourth place.

More than the flying lap, everyone gave weight to the certainly unconventional race simulation done by the Dutchman during the afternoon. 3 stints very separate from each other, which confirmed the goodness of the splendid RB20 in terms of pace and consistency, without forgetting the performance. The most impressive of the three was the first, carried out with the C3 compound, which remained unmatched.

Yet, although the RB20 scared everyone at that time, it seems that the Ferrari SF-24 tried to respond concretely in its simulation made with Charles Leclerc at the wheel. On C3 the impression is that the RB20 is stronger and more solid. Then, however, the Red showed an excellent pace on C1, confirming the good things already seen yesterday: the Maranello car, at least with the hard compounds, seems to be competitive. And not a little.

Leclerc's stint with the C2s was also good (done as the third and last to close the simulation), even if it was cut short after 8 laps to then try the starts on used C3 tyres. In short, a mirror of what we might see in a week, but nothing definitive. The impression is that Red Bull is still ahead of everyone, but Ferrari doesn't seem to be that far away, at least in certain situations of the race.

Returning to today's general classification, Yuki Tsunoda brought the Racing Bulls VCARB 01 to fifth place using a C4 compound. Daniel Ricciardo, last of the day, did a very different job from his teammate. In fact, he had tested his fastest lap yesterday afternoon. Alexander Albon instead had the task of lapping all day with Williams, proving to be the most active driver with 121 laps in total and the sixth fastest time signed in the final part of the afternoon session ahead of Oscar Piastri's McLaren.

The Australian, like Fernando Alonso's Aston Martin AMR24 following him, showed a good race pace, quite close to that of the Mercedes. Carlos Sainz, first in the morning, finished ninth ahead of Sergio Perez. Haas jumped with Nico Hulkenberg 11th, good at abandoning the lower levels of the rankings after a second day which saw the VF-24s trailing.

Lewis Hamilton ran this morning, finishing the day 12th overall ahead of Lance Stroll and Lando Norris. Still no noteworthy jolts for Alpine: 15th Pierre Gasly, 17th Esteban Ocon. The A524 is completely new compared to its progenitor, but has not yet offered performance insights to understand whether it is a good car or whether, instead, it could be a candidate as the real disappointment of this start to the season.