On the last day of testing in Bahrain , some teams dropped their pants for the first time. Max Verstappen turned the fastest lap of the week . Sebastian Vettel had to struggle with technical problems again. At Mercedes it was at least a little uphill. Is that enough to beat Red Bull ?

 

After only three days of testing , the fun in Bahrain is over again. On Sunday (March 14th) all teams had the last opportunity to prepare their new cars for the start of the season, which will be on the program in two weeks. And again, not all cars made it through the session without problems.

 

Sebastian Vettel was also affected by a longer downtime in the afternoon session. The Heppenheimer actually got into the cockpit with the aim of unwinding as many kilometers as possible. The engineers were unable to fulfill this wish. A problem with the boost pressure stopped Vettel's program an hour and a half before the checkered flag.

 

"That was of course not part of the plan. I would have liked to have enjoyed the good track conditions in the evening. Every meter is important to me at the moment," complained the pilot. With 56 laps, Vettel remained well below its own ideas. On all three test days , only 117 laps came together.

 

Verstappen best time despite mistake

 

The time hunt was not on the program at Aston Martin . Vettel and team-mate Lance Stroll found themselves at the bottom of the table on the final day. The two Honda teams apparently placed more emphasis on fast laps. A good hour before the session ended, Max Verstappen set the fastest lap of the week.

 

The Red Bull driver lapped the 5.412 kilometer long desert circuit on the second softest mix (C4) in 1: 28,960 minutes. However, the time is not very representative. Verstappen slipped off the track in his fastest time at Turn 11, which certainly cost a few tenths. Another attempt was made by Nikita Mazepin in Turn 1.

 

The second car with a Honda engine was also at the top of the table at the end of the test week. Alpha Tauri rookie Yuki Tsunoda was sent on the hunt for times with the very soft C5 tires in preparation for his first Formula 1 qualifying in the evening. In the end, only a tenth was missing from the Verstappen target.

 

The Ferrari teams couldn't - or didn't want to - keep up with the pace. Carlos Sainz stuck in his fastest run on C4 tires six tenths behind in third place. Kimi Räikkönen landed in fourth place in the much improved Alfa Romeo just two tenths further back . However, the Iceman was on the very soft C5 rubbers.

 

Mercedes slightly improved

 

The big problem child is still called Mercedes . The world championship team is still unable to convince in terms of reliability or pace. "We played a lot with the setup and were at least able to take a step in the right direction," explained Valtteri Bottas after his 86 laps in the morning.

 

At Lewis Hamilton , after numerous modifications, only 54 laps were made in the afternoon. The black painted Silver Arrow still looked very nervous in the rear, which was noticeable in a high-speed spin in the target curve. At least the world champion was allowed to unwind a few runs with less fuel and soft tires in the final phase, which was enough to finish fifth.

 

"I don't waste time worrying very much. It's better if things don't go well now than if it happened in the races," said the Briton in conclusion. "We have won the title several times as a team and will now approach the matter accordingly. The speed of some other cars is impressive. Especially from Red Bull . They are probably a different caliber this year."

 

Williams better than Haas

 

After all, the Mercedes customer team Williams seems to have taken a step forward . George Russell raced to sixth place on his first day of action. Haas will have to stretch this season if you don't want to be presented with the red lantern. Nikita Mazepin and Mick Schumacher did not get past places 14 and 15 in the end.

 

Nevertheless, Schumi Junior drew a positive conclusion in the end: "On Saturday and Sunday we were able to make up a lot of time that we had lost on the first day of testing . Everything has worked well so far. I feel good in the car and am able to sense when we're making changes to the setup. I drove in hot and cooler conditions. I tried the different tires . It was sometimes more and sometimes less windy. I feel ready for everything. "

 

In the gallery we show you the highlights of the day again.

 

 

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