F1 2023 Testing – Day 3: Sainz on top of afternoon runners

Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz stands as the fastest driver out on track, of the afternoon runners, 0.012 seconds slower than his teammate’s time that was set in the morning session.

• Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc remained on top of the afternoon session as the fastest driver, although he was not in the car for the afternoon session.
• On the same C4 compound that Leclerc used, Sainz put in the second fastest time and slipped into second between both Leclerc and Mercedes’ George Russell (third).
• Despite causing a red flag for mechanical issues late on in the morning session, Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas was able to quickly venture back onto the circuit for more test mileage. 

When the pit exit light went green, to signal the final test session of pre-season testing, it took a few moments before Alpine’s Esteban Ocon ventured down the pit lane to provide some running action.

For a short while Ocon had the entire Bahrain International Circuit all to himself, but he was soon joined by a number of drivers such as Carlos Sainz (Ferrari), Kevin Magnussen (Haas), Lando Norris (McLaren) and Yuki Tsunoda (Alpha Tauri).

However, Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas remained in his respective garage as the team looked to swap over power unit parts to examine what went wrong in the morning session when he pulled off the track with a mechanical issue. Fortunately, the Finnish driver was able to get back out into the track without missing too much time.

In the afternoon session, a few drivers remained for a full day of running while some got their first run on the final day of testing.

How the driver schedule shaped up in the last test session of the year:

• Red Bull – Sergio Perez (all day)
• Ferrari – Carlos Sainz 
• Mercedes – Lewis Hamilton
• Alpine – Esteban Ocon
• McLaren – Lando Norris
• Alfa Romeo – Valtteri Bottas (all day)
• Aston Martin – Fernando Alonso
• Haas – Kevin Magnussen
• Alpha Tauri – Yuki Tsunoda
• Williams – Alexander Albon (all day)

As the session rose over its first hour of the afternoon test, McLaren still had brake woes – as they did last season. Three hours remained on the clock and the Woking-based mechanics were hard at work trying to quickly fix their issues around the MCL60’s brake drums, an ongoing issue which has plagued their running in this year’s test.

Of the top three fastest laps, Sainz was the only change to that order as the Spaniard secured the second-fastest lap on the red-written C4 Pirelli tyres.

That’s all for the article; F1 2023 Testing – Day 3: Sainz on top of afternoon runners!

Read more Formula 1 here:

• F1 Testing – Day 3: Leclerc on top in morning as Bottas sees early end
• 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

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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.

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.