F1 2023 Testing: Perez tops testing ahead of Hamilton and Bottas
25th February 2023Red Bull’s Sergio Perez ended pre-season in the same at the top of the timing sheets, providing a great testing weekend for the defending world champions.
- Red Bull’s Sergio Perez was at the helm of the team’s RB19 all day, on the final day of testing, where he put in the fastest lap of the day.
- Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton and Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas rounded out the top three, with the second and third fastest times respectively.
- Despite earlier reliability issues, with suspected gearbox problems, Bottas was able to get out onto the circuit to continue his final test.
- McLaren’s Bahrain woes continued for a second year running as the team looked to try and fix issues that related to their braking systems and wheel winglets.
As dusk turned into night, Leclerc topped the timing board following his best time in the morning test ahead of his teammate, Carlos Sainz, who put in a fast lap to go second.
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)
With more representative conditions to what the drivers will contend with next week, at the same circuit, a few drivers began to conduct performance runs.
One of those drivers was Mercedes’ seven-time world champion, Lewis Hamilton, who went third fastest on a set of red-written C4 Pirelli tyres, a variation of the soft tyre range.
The Mercedes driver soon pitted to complete a quick swap of tyres, exchanging the C4 tyre for the softest available set of wheels: the C5. With the softer variation of the soft compound, identified with a red ring around the sidewall, Hamilton leapfrogged both Ferraris to jump to the top of the timing boards.
Hamilton obtained the fastest lap with a 1:30.781 which was two-tenths faster than Leclerc.
However, it wasn’t long until that time was overtaken by Red Bull’s Sergio Perez who set the newest fastest lap, a 1:30.6, on the harder C4 tyres. As a result, this demoted Hamilton down to second and Leclerc to third. The seven-time world champion was able to quickly improve his lap time but he remained in second place, 0.359s off Perez’s best lap.
How the order shaped up at the end of testing (incl. completed laps):
- Sergio Perez, Red Bull – 133 laps
- Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes – 65 laps
- Valtteri Bottas, Alfa Romeo – 131 laps
- Charles Leclerc, Ferrari – 67 laps
- Carlos Sainz, Ferrari – 76 laps
- Yuki Tsunoda, Alpha Tauri – 79 laps
- Kevin Magnussen, Haas – 95 laps
- George Russell, Mercedes – 83 laps
- Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin – 80 laps
- Felipe Drugovich, Aston Martin – 77 laps
- Lando Norris, McLaren – 37 laps
- Pierre Gasly, Alpine – 56 laps
- Alexander Albon, Williams – 136 laps
- Esteban Ocon, Alpine – 76 laps
- Nico Hulkenberg, Haas – 77 laps
- Oscar Piastri, McLaren – 44 laps
- Nyck De Vries, Alpha Tauri – 87 laps
- Max Verstappen, Red Bull – Did not participate
- Guanyu Zhou, Alfa Romeo – Did not participate
- Logan Sargeant, Williams – Did not participate
That’s all for the article; F1 2023 Testing: Perez tops testing ahead of Hamilton and Bottas!
What has been your favourite, or most memorable, moment from the 2023 edition of Pre-Season Testing? Let us know in the comments!
Read more Formula 1 here:
- F1 2023 Testing – Day 3: Sainz on top of afternoon runners
- 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
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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.
