Bahrain Test: Verstappen leads Schumacher on final day

Formula 1 champion Max Verstappen sent a message to his rivals by setting the quickest time on Saturday in Bahrain.

In the final hour on the final day of pre-season testing, the Dutchman headed out on the C5 tyres and managed a 1m31.720s to finish top of the timesheet.

Earlier in the day, his Red Bull team had revealed a new upgrade package to the RB18, including changes to the front wing, floor and the sidepods, a key area of debate so far with the new 2022 cars.

Teammate Sergio Perez had also used the new parts to go fastest in the morning session but had slipped to seventh by the end of the day.

Like on Friday, Haas was granted extra running time due to freight problems delaying their start to the test on Thursday.

And Mick Schumacher used that time to go second fastest, half a second slower than Verstappen but on one step harder tyres (C4).

Charles Leclerc was third in the Ferrari, ahead of Fernando Alonso who, like Verstappen, posted his best time in the more optimal conditions during the final hour.

After Lewis Hamilton, who was second-last in 17th, had claimed Mercedes were off the pace, teammate George Russell somewhat proved that in fifth, one second slower than Verstappen on the same tyres.

There was a slight offset in conditions, as the Briton did his best lap around sunset compared to the Red Bull under the lights, but it does seem clear there is work to do for the Silver Arrows to be competitive in a week’s time.

Alfa Romeo’s stuttering pre-season ended strongly with Valtteri Bottas sixth as he and teammate Guanyu Zhou did a combined 150 laps of Sakhir on Saturday, the most for a team.

There was still some reliability niggles though as the Finn caused a red flag with an apparent hydraulics issue.

Yuki Tsunoda finished sixth ahead of Perez and Lando Norris, another driver to set his best time in the closing minutes.

In a week when McLaren has been blighted by front brake problems, the Briton did manage 90 laps as the team continued to bring fixes to the issue.

Sebastian Vettel was ninth with Zhou completing the top 10.

Further down, Williams sat 14th and 15th as Nicholas Latifi spent most of the day in the FW44, managing 124 laps, the most for a single driver, while teammate Alex Albon did some shorter runs after lunch. 

Lance Stroll, Hamilton and Kevin Magnussen brought up the field.

With pre-season over then, all eyes now turn to the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix in a week’s time where we will finally find out who has the early edge in Formula 1’s new era.

Full results from Saturday can be seen below: