Perez quickest on final morning of F1 test as Red Bull lower pace

Red Bull debuted a revised sidepod concept and new floor on the RB18 when Perez emerged on track during for the final day of pre-season running at the Bahrain International Circuit on Saturday. 

The Mexican wasted no time getting to work as he went quickest on his first push lap out of the box and traded fastest laps with Alfa Romeo’s Guanyu Zhou during the early running. 

After focusing on race simulations for pretty much all of the three-day test so far, Red Bull finally switched to some qualifying runs as Perez set a new benchmark time with a 1m33.105s on Pirelli’s C4 compound. 

Perez’s best lap left him 0.854s clear of F1 rookie Zhou’s C4 effort at the end of the opening four-hour session, while mileage-topper Pierre Gasly was nearly a full second further back in third place as he racked up 91 laps. 

The AlphaTauri driver engaged in an entertaining mock race with Lewis Hamilton as the pair followed each other closely and swapped positions multiple times over the course of several laps in the latest demonstration that F1’s new-generation car appears to have achieved its intended goal of making following easier. 

Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz was fourth quickest ahead of Fernando Alonso, who was running an updated front wing on his pink-liveried Alpine. 

With Daniel Ricciardo ruled out with COVID-19, teammate Lando Norris has been left to single-handedly carry out McLaren’s troubled test programme for the third consecutive day, with the Briton ending up sixth. 

After a dramatic brake fire restricted his running to just 12 laps on Friday, Nicholas Latifi managed a strong haul of 73 laps for Williams.

Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll completed a half century of laps, while seven-time world champion Hamilton focused on race simulations as he racked up 78 laps for Mercedes in the uninterrupted morning session. 

F1 cars will return to the circuit at 3pm local time for one final session before pre-season testing concludes.

Results from the final morning in Bahrain.