Max Verstappen underlined his role as a favorite in the final training session for the 2022 Bahrain Grand Prix and secured first place. The Red Bull driver drove the best time in the third session at the season opener of Formula 1, which is considered a dress rehearsal for qualifying from 4:00 p.m. in the Formula 1 live ticker.
Verstappen initially stopped his first fast lap at the end of practice after the best mini-sectors at the beginning; in the second attempt he then started rather leisurely in the first 20 seconds of driving, but then improved significantly and drove a best time of 1:32.544 minutes.
In the end, that meant a 0.096 second lead over Charles Leclerc (Ferrari), who spun again but was lucky not to touch the barriers. His lap was “not great”, Leclerc analyzed on the pit radio. He sees potential for growth in the last sector in particular.
Mercedes, meanwhile, continued to lose time in the first sector. The first corner after the start and finish, where the “bouncing” is at its worst, has so far been the Achilles’ heel of the “Silver Arrows”. Nevertheless, George Russell finished fourth, just 0.391 seconds behind, ahead of Carlos Sainz (Ferrari/+0.509) and Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes/+0.577).
Hülkenberg 12th, Schumacher 14th
Sergio Perez in the second Red Bull finished third with a time of 0.247 seconds, completing the phalanx of the top three teams. Everyone else was already far behind in the final training session. The best pursuer was Kevin Magnussen (Haas) on P7. But he was 0.893 seconds behind Verstappen.
Mick Schumacher was 14th, 0.858 seconds behind his Haas teammate Kevin Magnussen. Nico Hulkenberg was the best German this time, but only number 2 at Aston Martin, 0.051 seconds behind Lance Stroll. That meant twelfth place for Sebastian Vettel’s substitute (Corona positive).
The session didn’t go according to plan for Yuki Tsunoda. The AlphaTauri driver was about to drive out of the pits for the first time when he realized he couldn’t steer. Because he radioed at the same time that he can smell oil, the suspicion of a hydraulic defect is obvious. Ultimately, Tsunoda didn’t make a single round.