Bahrain Testing Day 3: Pérez sets fastest lap at noon ahead of Zhou

This Saturday, the drivers began their last day of testing in Bahrain. And for once, Ferrari is not (yet) in the top three.

At McLaren, the situation is still not looking good. While Daniel Ricciardo has just tested positive for Covid-19, his teammate Lando Norris took the wheel of the MCL36 once again. However, he had to deal with the brake issues that McLaren has been experiencing since Thursday morning. This continued until the arrival of new brake ducts. But after a few proper laps, the morning abruptly came to an end for the team, once again due to brake problems.

Meanwhile, the teams are continuing with aerodynamic measures and studying the flow of cars, like Mercedes and Aston Martin, whose race cars have been seen with measurement grids.

As for Red Bull, the RB18 stayed in the garage a little longer than expected this morning. Indeed, the car, driven by Sergio Pérez, appeared with new side pods and a brand-new floor. Apparently, this new concept is effective as Pérez sets the fastest time of the session in 1:33.105 using the C3 tires.

On the Alpine side, the A522 has suffered from a problem that has been rarely mentioned in recent days: porpoising. While some teams seemed to have found a solution, Fernando Alonso’s Alpine was particularly affected.

On the other hand, Ferrari is still attacking fiercely on the Sakhir track. The driver of the moment, Carlos Sainz, took the best time of this session in C5 before being dropped to fourth position in the ranking.

The second fastest time on the grid goes to Guanyu Zhou. The Alfa Romeo rookie used the C4 tires to position himself just ahead of Pierre Gasly, who also put in a lot of effort on the C4 tires.

If he set the fastest time yesterday, the Danish driver Kevin Magnussen continued to do laps today. Until a water pressure leak forced the VF-22 to return to the pits after 34 laps. The Haas driver also encountered porpoising issues upon his return to the track. With 15 minutes remaining, Haas experienced another problem with the engine and fuel supply.

For the German team Mercedes, Lewis Hamilton was on track. And apparently, the W13 is also suffering from porpoising, which would prevent the car from making progress. The team’s engineers have reportedly stated that they are facing serious difficulties. Hamilton takes the 9th fastest time of the morning in C5, three seconds behind Pérez.

At Williams, Nicholas Latifi was in control and finishes in 7th position in C3, just ahead of Lance Stroll from Aston Martin, also in C3.

In summary, only the Scuderia seems stable at this level. The balance of the other cars is hard to find, as we observed problems with understeer and oversteer during this session.

The timetable