Bahrain Test: Perez fastest on final morning as Red Bull bring upgrade

Sergio Perez went fastest as Red Bull introduced new upgrades to their RB18 on the final morning of Formula 1 pre-season testing.

While there was nothing as radical as the Mercedes earlier in the week, the updates did include revised sidepods with an even bigger undercut and more sculpting on the upper section.

Once on track, the Mexican didn’t waste any time in going quickest towards the end of the opening hour and gradually worked down to his final best time of 1m33.105s, the best time so far in Bahrain.

Guanyu Zhou also put in some shorter runs during the second hour and would finish second in the Alfa Romeo albeit eight-tenths behind Perez.

Day 1 pacesetter Pierre Gasly was third for AlphaTauri on a busy morning for the Frenchman as he managed an impressive 91 laps in just four hours, the most of anyone.

Carlos Sainz was fourth in the Ferrari, ahead of fellow Spaniard Fernando Alonso who had a much more productive morning in the Alpine with 54 laps to his name.

Standing in for the third straight day after Daniel Ricciardo’s positive Covid-19 test, Lando Norris managed 39 laps in the McLaren as they continue to battle front brake issues on the MCL36.

After a rear brake fire wiped out much of Friday, Nicholas Latifi was back on track for Williams in seventh, completing a solid 73 laps.

Lance Stroll was eighth in the Aston Martin, ahead of Lewis Hamilton in ninth as Mercedes focused on long run pace despite an early lap on the C5 tyres.

Kevin Magnussen began an hour earlier than the rest as part of Haas’ extra running granted by F1, but a water pressure leak did limit the Dane to just 38 laps and the slowest time. 

Just four hours remain then for teams to gather as much data as possible ahead of the opening race weekend of 2022 in Bahrain in a week’s time!