Pre-season testing Day 3: 80 laps for Charles Leclerc and P2 in morning session. Report from the morning session of the last testing day.

Sunday morning’s four-hour session was largely trouble-free, which allowed most teams to rack up a substantial number of laps at the Bahrain International Circuit.

Red Bull’s Sergio Perez set the fastest time on the third and final morning of Formula 1 pre-season testing in Bahrain, with most teams concentrating on longer runs.

Scuderia Ferrari didn’t look too impressive during the first two days of F1 testing, but this morning, on what appears to be a qualifying run, the team gave us a glimpse of their true speed.

Charles Leclerc therefore finished his last laps in the pre-season testing session, as Carlos Sainz will take over for the afternoon session. The Monegasque driver completed 80 laps, with a personal best of 1m30.486s on the C3 Tyres, which was just two tenths than Sergio Perez’s best lap time of the morning session.

After lunch, teams will get another four hours of track time at Sakhir to bring 2021 pre-season testing to a close, with the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix to follow on March 28 at the same venue.

Final morning session timesheet

1. Sergio Perez, Red Bull, 1:30.187, 49 laps, soft tyres (C4)
2. Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, +0.299, 80 laps, medium tyres (C3)
3. Lando Norris, McLaren, +0.474, 56 laps, medium tyres (C3)
4. Pierre Gasly, AlphaTauri, +0.641, 76 laps, soft tyres (C4)
5. Esteban Ocon, Alpine, +1.123, 61 laps, medium tyres (C3)
6. Mick Schumacher, Haas, +1.866, 78 laps, medium tyres (C3)
7. Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes, +2.219, 86 laps, medium tyres (C3)
8. George Russell, Williams, +2.544, 77 laps, hard tyres (C2)
9. Kimi Raikkonen, Alfa Romeo, +5.087, 91 laps, hard tyres (C2)
10. Lance Stroll, Aston Martin, +5.913, 80 laps, medium tyres (C3)