© Getty ImagesTesting in Bahrain: Day 3 ReportMax Verstappen brought the curtain down on the Team’s pre-season tests programme with an 81-lap workload that netted the defending world champion the day’s second quickest time.
AfterdaytwointheRB21belongedtoLiam;MaxwasbackinthecarforthefullfinaldayofrunningattheBahrainInternationalCircuit,andoverthefirstfourlargelysmoothhours,heputasolid36lapsonthenewcarandworkedhiswaytoabesttimeof1:31.209,0.398soffthemorning’squickestdriver,CharlesLeclerc.TheTeamback-to-backedoptionswiththeaimofoptimisingthenewcarfortheseason-openingAustralianGrandPrixintwoweeks’time.
The Sakhir circuit once again suffered a sprinkling of unlikely mishaps. On day one at the Bahrain International Circuit, running was halted by a long power cut, and as the final morning session came to a close, the red flags came out again; this time for the unusual issue of a pane of glass from the start gantry was dislodged and shattered in the pit lane. Haas rookie Ollie Bearman later revealed he thought a stone kicked up by his car had been the culprit.
Max puts the RB21 through its paces under the Bahraini sun© Getty Images
Not to be outdone, the afternoon session also featured a non-standard halt due to a bus being in front of the barriers on the VCARB’s Yuki Tsunoda on track, the red flags were swiftly shown and running stopped until the bus could be removed.
The peculiar stoppage count ended there and late in the afternoon, the session delivered what most had been waiting for, a clutch of performance runs. As drivers worked through longer runs, Pierre Gasly moved to the top of the timesheet with a lap of 1:30.282s that put him half a second clear of Leclerc. Mercedes’s George Russell then eclipsed that by over two-tenths of a second.
Max, meanwhile, was continuing to investigate longer run pace on a set of C2 tyres before returning to the garage for more tweaks. He returned to the fray to post a third-best time of 1:30.143, and then as the third hour of the afternoon got into its stride, he finally demoted reached top spot with a lap of 1:29.844.
I think we had a decent day today; there were a few little problems but overall, we completed quite a bit of what we wanted to do
Max VerstappenAs the session edged towards a finish, Alex Albon, in the Williams, bolted on a set of C4 compound Pirellis and jumped to the top of the order with a lap of 1:29.650.
However, a final push lap from Max on C3 tyres, beat that as the champion posted a time of 1:29.566. That looked good enough to seal top spot, but moments later Russell went two hundredths of a second quicker to snag the fastest time on day.
With Max second ahead of Albon, fourth place went to McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, and the top five order was rounded by Pierre Gasly. Lewis Hamilton was sixth for Ferrari ahead of Racing Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda and Haas’ Esteban Ocon. Leclerc was ninth and the final top 10 spot went to Mercedes rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli.
Max and the RB21 getting dialed in at Bahrain© Getty Images
Elsewhere, it was a tricky day for Aston Martin, as Lance Stroll was forced out of the car by illness after 34 laps and after making changes to the car in the morning, Fernando Alonso had to complete the day’s running for the Silverstone team. Haas also had an issue in the morning when, in addition to Bearman’s window-breaking antics, the young Briton also lost a chunk of bodywork in the morning. The session was spared another red flag as marshals were able to recover the element under yellow flags.
PierreWachéonwheretheRB21standsafterBahrain
And that is a wrap. Pre-season 2025 was short and sharp, but it has whetted the appetite perfectly for the opening round.
