Red Bull unveiled a new sidepod design on the final day of testing in Bahrain where Sergio Perez set the pace
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Updated 12/03/2022 at 11:47 GMT
Sergio Perez of Red Bull was the quickest driver in the morning session on the final day of testing ahead of the 2022 F1 season opener next weekend. Driving a car replete with new sculpted sidepods and a reworked floor, he was 0.8 seconds clear of Alfa Romeo’s Guanyu Zhou. Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton could only muster ninth.
Sergio Perez of Mexico driving the (11) Oracle Red Bull Racing RB18 on track during Day Three of F1 Testing at Bahrain International Circuit on March 12, 2022 in Bahrain, Bahrain
Image credit: Getty Images
Sergio Perez topped the lap-time table at the end of the morning session on Day 3 of testing.
The Red Bull driver finished the session with a quickest time of 1:33.105, 0.8 seconds quicker than Alfa Romeo’s Guanyu Zhou in second.
The morning session on the final day of testing concluded with a racing start between the four drivers remaining out on track.
With the first semi-racing start of the season, the teams were looking to see if the new regulations did afford closer racing.
Pierre Gasly in the AlphaTauri led from the start with the driver’s reluctant to attempt an overtake.
Red Bull’s updated sidepods were the talk of the paddocks on Day 3 in Bahrain, the final chance for the teams to test new designs and tweak additions to their cars.
Perez took to the track with an hour of the session gone, as the team hurried to make the most of the morning’s testing window. The scrapes and bangs of panel work being fitted could be heard from Red Bull’s garage.
Zhou, China’s first F1 driver, had dominated the lap time leaderboard for the early parts of the session, swapping times with the Red Bull of Perez.
Lewis Hamilton, in his new-look Mercedes, could not do better than ninth fastest, 3.112 seconds off top position.
His team were looking to test the car’s race-distance performance with longer runs and fewer of the bleeding edge charges that Hamilton is associated with.
Both the Mercedes and the Red Bull continued to be difficult to drive as the teams tried to find the ideal set up. Even with a reduced engine output slowing them slightly the cars looked twitchy and Hamilton was well off the pace.
Hamilton did trade track positions with Gasly for a few laps to give a feel for what real-world racing could look like in the upcoming season.
It is, of course, early days but the following car did seem to be closer and more competitive under the new cleaner wash pouring out of the back of the car in front.
McLaren again struggled with their brakes overheating, and required a new part that only arrived midway through the session.
The improved brake duct should help the team shed some of the thermal load that limited them to a measly 10-lap run – a long way short of race distance.
While they worked to install the new component to the front end of the car, the morning session ebbed away. The team can only hope to pick up more time on track after the lunchtime break.
Fernando Alonso’s Alpine car struggled with ‘porpoising’ for the entire session. The extreme bouncing is caused as the cars gain then lose ‘ground effect’ downforce in rapid succession.
Today saw new front wing designs, tweaked ride heights and stiffened suspension to try and eradicate the effect which not only slows cars down but damages them as they slap the floor.
Haas were making up for lost time and had been on track for two hours before they were joined by the remainder of the teams.
DRS was again a point of contention ahead of the start of the season, with commentators calling the drag reduction system which allows drivers to close the gap on the car in front, a ‘sticking plaster on a broken leg’.
World Champion Max Verstappen is due on track in the afternoon session to show what he can do in Red Bull’s tweaked car as they squeeze every second from the new regulations. But it’s not just the drivers who will make the difference on race day.
Christian Horner, Red Bull’s team principal, expressed the difference the new regulations, with heavier cars and tires, have made to the pit crews.
“Those pit mechanics have been in the gym and are looking pretty ripped,” he said. “You need to be a bit of a bodybuilder to lift these heavier tires.”
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