Max Verstappen, the current Formula One World Champion, set the fastest time in the lasr afternoon of 2022 pre-season testing in Bahrain.
Max Verstappen and Red Bull have completed their pre-season test program by recording the fastest speed in Bahrain.
As the teams moved away from the Medium C3 tyres and onto the Soft compounds, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc overtook Verstappen at the top of the times halfway through the last session on Saturday.
To take the lead, Leclerc set a time of 1:32.415 on the Soft C5, but Verstappen went out for a best performance run in the last 30 minutes of the session.
Verstappen, who was also on the Soft C5, set a time of 1:31.973, nearly half a second faster than Leclerc’s best on the same compound. Despite spinning at the last circuit while preparing to begin his first flying lap, Verstappen managed to win.
Verstappen regrouped on a fresh pair of Soft C5s in the final ten minutes and drove even faster.
Verstappen set a new lap record of 1:31.720 after gaining a quarter of a second in the opening sector. Up to the chequered flag, his time was over seven tenths faster than anyone else’s.
A flurry of action in the last minutes
With Leclerc in second place and opting out of a comparable performance run in the final minutes, Mercedes’ George Russell showed indications of improvement.
Russell finished third, 1.039 seconds slower than Verstappen’s best time — Russell’s best time was done on the Soft C5 tyre.
With four minutes remaining, Mercedes were dropped to fourth as Alpine’s Fernando Alonso took third place on the Soft C4 tyre.
Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas successfully completed in a strong fifth place. With 40 minutes remained, the Finn set a 1:32.985 on the Medium C3 tyre, but was forced to pull over and stop due to a suspected gearbox failure.
Bottas’ collision resulted in a brief red flag stoppage, as well as the conclusion of his and Alfa Romeo’s test.
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F1, F1 2022, Formula 1, Grand Prix, Valtteri Bottas, Max Verstappen, Red Bull