F1 2023 Testing – Day 3: Leclerc on top in morning as Bottas sees early end
25th February 2023Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc topped the morning session on the final day of testing as Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas saw his morning come to an early end.
- The top three remained unchanged as Leclerc topped the timing sheets ahead of both Mercedes’ George Russell and Aston Martin’s Felipe Drugovich
- Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas saw his morning test come to an early end as he seemingly suffered mechanical issues
Following the first half of the final morning test, Leclerc remained on top of the timing sheets with a 1:31.024 which placed the Monegasque 0.4 seconds ahead of Mercedes’ George Russell and Aston Martin’s Felipe Drugovich. Of the top three, Leclerc secured his best lap time on the red-written C4 tyres while Russell and Drugovich completed their fastest laps on the red-walled C5 tyres.
At the same time, McLaren’s Oscar Piastri remained in his respective garage as the team carried out strengthening work on the front wheel winglets and brake drums. The Woking-based mechanics were seen in their garage applying metal tape around the problem areas.
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 a relatively mundane and well-behaved second half of the session, Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas brought out the second red flag of the session as the Finnish driver pulled onto the run-off area at turn eight. Bottas headed down into turn eight at speed but quickly slowed as the #77 Alfa Romeo sounded to have a sudden mechanical issue, the Finn stopped his C43 on the run-off area of turn eight.
When the track marshals removed the stranded Alfa Romeo from the track, the session returned to green-flag conditions with one hour and seven minutes remaining on the clock.
In the first available opportunity, Aston Martin’s Felipe Drugovich was the first driver to head back out onto the Bahrain circuit to continue.
As the session crept into its final hour, the top three remained unchanged from the first half, as Leclerc remained out on top ahead of both Russell (P2) and Drugovich (P3).
In usual fashion, in the last 15 minutes of the morning test, the Virtual Safety Car was deployed as race control tested the system. However, this was soon upgraded to a full safety car, but the Aston Martin Safety Car was not deployed before a red flag was issued.
The red flag was soon lifted and Piastri was the first driver to venture out onto the circuit ahead of Russell.
How the morning ended (incl. completed laps):
- Charles Leclerc, Ferrari – 67 laps
- George Russell, Mercedes – 83 laps
- Felipe Drugovich, Aston Martin – 77 laps
- Sergio Perez, Red Bull – 69 laps
- Pierre Gasly, Alpha Tauri – 56 laps
- Alexander Albon, Williams – 53 laps
- Nico Hulkenberg, Haas – 77 laps
- Oscar Piastri, McLaren – 44 laps
- Valtteri Bottas, Alfa Romeo – 72 laps
- Nyck De Vries, Alpha Tauri – 87 laps
That’s all for the article; F1 2023 Testing – Day 3: Leclerc on top in morning as Bottas sees early end!
Read more Formula 1 here:
- F1 Testing – Day 3: Leclerc on top as McLaren deal with issues
- 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
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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.
