F1 2023 Testing – Day 3: Leclerc on top as McLaren deal with issues
25th February 2023Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc topped the first half of the final morning test whereas McLaren continued to deal with issues with their MCL60.
- Leclerc topped the timing board in the first half of the morning test with a time of 1:31.024, ahead of both Mercedes’ George Russell (second) and Sergio Perez (third).
- Aston Martin’s Felipe Drugovich (fifth) continued to get some testing mileage under his belt in the event that he is required to race in place of the absent Lance Stroll.
- McLaren seemed to continue to have reliability woes as their mechanics worked on a fix with the wheel winglets which have hindered running for the Woking-based team.
In the final morning of the pre-season test, ahead of the first official session next week. Aston Martin’s rookie, Felipe Drugovich headed a two-car queue as the Brazilian waited for the pit exit light to go green with Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas, McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Red Bull’s Sergio Perez out behind him.
Quickly after, a handful of drivers started to slowly filter out onto the circuit. However, the session was shortly red-flagged to allow the track marshals to quickly grab some sensors which had fallen off the rear of Perez’s RB19.
The session managed to go back to green-flag conditions which allowed Mercedes’ George Russell, Alpine’s Pierre Gasly and Haas’ Nico Hulkenberg to become the first drivers back out on track.
How the driver schedule shaped up for the morning test:
- Red Bull – Sergio Perez
- Ferrari – Charles Leclerc
- Mercedes – George Russell
- Alpine – Pierre Gasly
- McLaren – Oscar Piastri
- Alfa Romeo – Valtteri Bottas
- Aston Martin – Felipe Drugovich
- Haas – Nico Hulkenberg
- Alpha Tauri – Nyck De Vries
- Williams – Alexander Albon
After the first half an hour, Russell topped the timing boards with the fastest lap, a 1:31.707, ahead of both Hulkenberg and Piastri who sat in second and third respectively. The top three drivers completed their fastest laps on the yellow-ringed C3 tyres.
With three hours and 34 minutes left on the clock, Piastri was forced to collect his car from a spin at turns nine and 10. As the Australian blasted over the crest of turn nine, his MCL60 became unsettled as he bounced over the track and the car spun out onto the run-off area.
Fortunately, Piastri was able to correct the spin and continue on before he made contact with any barriers.
As the session completed its first hour, Russell remained out on top of the timing sheets ahead of both Gasly and Perez who sat in second and third respectively.
At this point, Russell and Williams’ Alexander Albon were the only drivers to complete their fastest laps on the red-written C4 tyres while the majority of the field completed their laps on the yellow-ringed C3 tyres. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc (P6) and Bottas (P8) were also the only two drivers to complete their laps on the yellow-written C2 tyres.
Despite a fairly well-behaved second hour of testing, Leclerc topped the timing boards with a 1:31.024 which was obtained on the red-written C4 tyres, ahead of Russell (+0.418s) and Perez (+1.435) who were on the red-walled and yellow-walled tyres respectively.
However, Drugovich managed to secure the fifth fastest lap on the board, 1.799 seconds off Leclerc’s pace, on the unbranded prototype tyre.
It remains unclear if Lance Stroll will be available for the opening race of the season – in Bahrain – after his minor training accident, so Drugovich’s mileage in the AMR23 will be beneficial in the event Aston Martin requires him to race next week.
However, after 25 laps completed by Piastri, the MCL60 remained in its respective garage as the first half drew to a close to allow the mechanics to work on issues. The McLaren team attempted to work on a fix in regards to the wheel winglets which have played their part in a hindered pre-season test for the Woking-based team.
As it stands going into the second half of the final morning test:
- Charles Leclerc, Ferrari – 1:31.024
- George Russell, Mercedes
- Sergio Perez, Red Bull
- Pierre Gasly, Alpine
- Felipe Drugovich, Aston Martin
- Nico Hulkenberg, Haas
- Oscar Piastri, McLaren
- Alexander Albon, Williams
- Valtteri Bottas, Alfa Romeo
- Nyck De Vries, Alpha Tauri
That’s all for the article; F1 2023 Testing: F1 2023 Testing – Day 3: Leclerc on top as McLaren deal with issues!
Read more Formula 1 here:
- F1 Testing – Day 2: Sainz on top in first half of morning test
- F1 Testing: Verstappen rounds out first day as fastest man
- F1 Testing: Verstappen on top in first half of the afternoon test
- F1 Testing: Verstappen fastest driver in morning test on first day
- F1 Testing: Sainz stays on top going into final hour
- F1 Testing – Day 1: Sainz remains on top as Albon takes third fastest time
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Hi, I’m Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion.
I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I’ve loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
Kamron Kent
Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
