Verstappen finishes in style during the last pre-season tests, Ferrari confirms, Alpine reassures

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Max Verstappen in the lead, Ferrari cautious favorite, Lewis Hamilton for the time being not in a position to aim for victory: this is the final picture of the F1 pre-season tests, which ended on Saturday March 12 in Bahrain. The defending champion (Red Bull) finished first, notably beating Monegasque Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) by 0″695), Spaniard Fernando Alonso (Alpine) by 0″978 and Briton George Russell (Mercedes) by 1,039″. ).

Thanks to an exceptional overtime authorization following a freight problem, Haas surprised again. After the best time set by the returning Kevin Magnussen on Saturday, Mick Schumacher set the second time just half a second behind Verstappen (+0″521).

However, these differences must be weighed by the choice of tires: Verstappen and Russell were equipped with softer ones, faster over one lap, those of Leclerc and Alonso were a notch less so. As for the German, his time was set after 7:00 p.m. local time (5:00 p.m. French), in a cooler climate more favorable to speed.

At Mercedes, whose body was the surprise of this second test session with side pods almost absent from its sides, it is therefore not time to celebrate. “At the moment I don’t think we are going to fight for the win but the car has the potential to get there.“, warned Hamilton at a press conference. His single-seater appears difficult to maneuver. Frenchman Pierre Gasly (AlphaTauri) confirms having seen Hamilton “struggle“and thinks his team has”a bit of work to fight at the forefront“.

“Next week [lors du premier Grand Prix, toujours à Bahreïn], we will have a much better demonstration of our pace but I think people will be surprised, maybe…“, continues the seven-time world champion, crowned six times with Mercedes since 2014. “People keep asking whether we’re putting ourselves down or not, but it’s a little different this year.”affirms the vice-champion in title.

Hamilton and the others insist on the performance of Ferrari, which has worked hard to produce a fast and reliable F1 after two difficult years. “It’s definitely one of the easiest preparations I’ve had before a season. There were no major issuescomments Charles Leclerc. Above all, on such a new project, you always expect to find obstacles and, for the moment (…) it has been quite simple and we have managed to continue to improve.“

The Monegasque evokes only one “problem of porpoising under certain conditions“. This is the unexpected perverse effect of the profound change in the aerodynamics of single-seaters this season: in a straight line, they bounce up and down, more or less strongly depending on the car, which risks breaking parts and hinders pilots.

But, on the clock, “everyone seems to be pretty close at one time or another“, tempers Leclerc. “We know how much margin we have, but we have no idea how much others hide their game. That’s why we really have to be careful. It’s good to be in the lead but that doesn’t mean anything at the moment.“

Another team expected because in constant progress since 2019, McLaren has marked time in Bahrain, after the promises of the first tests in Barcelona at the end of February. “NOTWe encountered a number of issues which limited the number of laps we completed, especially on the long stints.“, says British pilot Lando Norris.”So we are far from where we want to be, where we need to be and where we could say we are confident for the first race.“

Additional tile for the English team, its second driver Daniel Ricciardo did not participate in these tests, suffering from Covid-19. The Australian’s isolation period will end before the Bahrain GP, ​​however. Appointment is made for the qualifications on this same circuit of Sakhir, Saturday. Observers will then know who hid their game.


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