We were just one day of track time from the opening Grand Prix of the 2023 season at the same circuit next weekend, which meant it was a crucial day for all teams: Mercedes needed to recover from a disappointing Friday, that saw George Russell stop on track after a hydraulic issue. Red Bull continued to look imperious as Max Verstappen impressed once more, but his work was done and it was Sergio Perez who got behind the wheel for the reigning constructors’ champions today.
Scuderia Ferrari have had a very solid opening couple of days, but still needed to unleash a little more pace today. Charles Leclerc took to the track in the morning session, which was the Monegasque’s final running time ahead of the first round of the 2023 Formula 1 season.
The final day of 2023 Formula 1 pre-season testing therefore begun: Felipe Drugovich, eager to take full advantage of this opportunity, led the queue to get out on track. We had an early red flag, but it was nothing serious: Sergio Perez had been set out with sensors on the Red Bull, and part of the sensor come loose and fell onto the track. It was recovered by a marshal and we were back under way.
After 20 minutes of track action, we had six of the ten drivers set lap times and the best one came from Nico Hulkenberg for Haas: he did a 1:33.690, which was almost a full two seconds better than the next best time we saw at that stage. Sergio Perez was still driving round with an aero-rake on his Red Bull, as they continued to gather data.
Just before that red flag incident occurred, we heard from Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur as he made his way through the paddock: “So far, so good. Testing is always intense, but it’s ok. It’s difficult to have a clear picture because we are a bit blind on the others, but we have some room for improvement, let’s say.”
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George Russell, who was back out on track after that hydraulic failure yesterday evening, went fastest. It was nothing hugely special, a 1:33.685, but it was a better look for the championship hopefuls. Charles Leclerc, who also encountered some DRS issues, moved up to third with a 1:34.142, while Pierre Gasly went up to fourth after setting his first time of the day. Williams’ Alex Albon was the only driver yet to set a time this morning after the first hour.
We also had the first spin of testing! It was McLaren rookie Oscar Piastri, who got out of shape at Turn 9, where thankfully for him there was plenty of run-off room. He was on a decent lap until that happened. Meanwhile, Nico Hulkenberg returned to the top of the timesheet for Haas. We then had another change at the top of timesheet as Sergio Perez returned Red Bull to where they spent most of testing. He delivered a 1:33.167, which was the best part of two tenths clear of Hulkenberg. But George Russell came out on some softer C4 tyres and immediately put in a 1:31.707, which was just a tenth of the fastest lap we’ve seen throughout the three days. That put him 1.3s clear of Pierre Gasly at the top of today’s timesheet.
George Russell went out to have a go on the even softer (and theoretically quicker) C5 tyres. The result was the fastest lap of the week so far – a 1:31.564, narrowly improving Zhou Guanyu’s effort for Alfa Romeo yesterday evening. However, his final sector in that lap wasn’t as quick as the one he did on the C4s. Meanwhile, Charles Leclerc did a 1:32.220 behind the wheel of the SF-23 car to go second for Scuderia Ferrari. Notably, his effort came on the medium C3 tyre.
George Russell did another run on the C5s and shaved a further tenth off his time to put in a 1:31.442. However, Charles Leclerc came out on a set of C4s and went almost 0.3s quicker with a 1:31.164. Was that the Ferrari pace we had been waiting for, or was there more to come?
Charles Leclerc did in fact continue his run and took another tenth off his previous best time to improve the fastest time of the week to 1:31.024. Sergio Perez has also shown a bit more speed to go third, but Charles Leclerc and George Russell remained the only drivers to have put down quick laps on the softer tyres.
Oscar Piastri managed 25 laps in the first couple of hours of testing, but then remained in the garage with McLaren appearing to be facing further issues with the wheel brows on the MCL60. Out on track, we were seeing a bit of improvement from Felipe Drugovich, who was up to fifth in the Aston Martin and then made further progress with a 1:32.075 on the C5 tyre to move up to third. Fernando Alonso was out on the pit wall taking a look at how his team-mate is getting on.
With less than 90 minutes until the end of the morning session, we had another red flag. This time it did seem to be a mechanical failure, with Valtteri Bottas’ stopping on track in his Alfa Romeo. It sounded like a gearbox issue, as the Finn was stuck in gear. Not too long a delay as Valtteri Bottas’ car was brought back to the pits and we had action again; Drugovic, Charles Leclerc, Russell, Hulkenberg and Albon were the first drivers back out.
With less than 90 minutes until the end of the morning session, we had another red flag. This time it did seem to be a mechanical failure, with Valtteri Bottas’ stopping on track in his Alfa Romeo. It sounded like a gearbox issue, as the Finn was stuck in gear. Not too long a delay as Valtteri Bottas’ car was brought back to the pits and we had action again; Drugovic, Charles Leclerc, Russell, Hulkenberg and Albon were the first drivers back out.
Three different programmes were going on from Red Bull, Mercedes and Scuderia Ferrari at this stage: Sergio Perez was lapping in the 1:32s, George Russell in the 1:36s and Charles Leclerc is in the 1:39s! Very difficult to work out a pecking order from those times.
It was long-run o’clock for most teams in the final moments of the morning session, but Alex Albon posted a personal best for Williams, a 1:32.793 that lifts him above Nico Hulkenberg into sixth.
It was that time of the day again: we had a Virtual Safety Car, followed by a Safety Car, followed by a red flag, as there was a run through of those systems and procedures.
Charles Leclerc therefore set the fastest time of pre-season testing so far to top the final morning for Scuderia Ferrari, while Mercedes also enjoyed an encouraging session after their Day Two struggles. George Russell, back in the W14 car after a hydraulics issue ended his day yesterday and prompted investigations long into the night at Mercedes, set the pace early with a 1:31.442 before the Monegasque, on a softer tyre, went four tenths quicker in his Ferrari SF-23 car. Red Bull were surprisingly absent from that battle of the top, with Sergio Perez – in the car all day today – only fourth and 1.4s off the pace, though times are expected to ramp up in the final, cooler, four-hour session. Felipe Drugovich split Red Bull from Mercedes and Red Bull for an Aston Martin team that appear to be Formula 1’s fourth-fastest right now.
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