Russell pips Verstappen to fastest time of final day of testing

George Russell set the fastest time on the final day of Formula 1 testing before the start of the 2025 season.

However his best effort was two-tenths of a second slower than the quickest time of the test, set by Carlos Sainz Jnr yesterday.

Sainz’s team mate Alexander Albon was briefly fastest today after producing a 1’29.650 with a run on the C4 tyres. However Max Verstappen moved to the top with a quicker time on the C3 tyres, then Russell took that from him using the same tyres, with just six minutes remaining.

Oscar Piastri produced McLaren’s fastest time of the test to end the day fourth-fastest, with what looked like a conservative effort. That lap moved him ahead of Pierre Gasly, who ran a sequence of increasingly fast laps after the lunch break, and ended up fifth.

The day’s two sessions were each interrupted due to unusual incidents. The first occured almost three-quarters of an hour before the lunch break, when a pane of glass fell onto the pit straight from a flag gantry above.

Once the mess was cleaned up, the red flags were withdrawn, and Andrea Kimi Antonelli and Fernando Alonso rejoined the track. The red flags were hastily thrown again, however, when race control realised one marshal hadn’t returned to their safe position.

The second interruption was potentially even more serious. Shortly after the lunch break ended, with the track live once more, a bus entered the circuit at the run-off area on the outside of turns nine and ten.

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Three cars were on-track at the time and fortunately neither Pierre Gasly, Esteban Ocon nor Yuki Tsunoda ran wide at that corner. The FIA said it will look into the matter.

While most teams divided their running between two drivers, Albon and Verstappen did the day’s running single-handedly. The Williams driver covered the most laps of all, while Esteban Ocon impressively covered more than 100 in just the evening session, and even found time for a harmless spin at turn one.

Lance Stroll was due to begin the day for Aston Martin, but was unwell overnight, so Fernando Alonso took over his stint. Although Stroll did drive the car after lunch, he was still not feeling right, and handed it back to Alonso after 34 laps.

Lewis Hamilton covered just 47 laps in his last chance to test before the season begins. Ferrari stopped running more than half an hour before the chequered flag fell, indicating he may have encountered some kind of problem. He had been due to complete a race distance, which is 57 laps, and a qualifying simulation.

2025 Bahrain test day three lap times

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