Perez leads Hamilton as F1 testing comes to a close
The lap times plummeted as teams switched their attention to some performance runs under the lights, with Perez underlining Red Bull’s apparent authority heading into the new campaign by producing the fastest lap across three days of running.
Perez’s 1m30.305s - set on the C4 tyre - was two tenths quicker than Charles Leclerc’s pole position time from last year’s Bahrain Grand Prix and put him clear of the rest of the field by 0.359s.
Hamilton briefly held top after pumping in Mercedes’ best lap of testing on the C5 compound, but was ultimately usurped by Perez, who found multiple improvements with an hour to go.
It marked an encouraging end to testing for Mercedes following their day two dramas, however, Hamilton was visibly struggling with the rear of his car after the seven-time world champion admitted the W14 still has some of last year’s “balance limitations”.
After a mechanical issue forced him to stop on track in the morning, Valtteri Bottas ended up third-quickest for Alfa Romeo, just half a second off the pace.
Ferrari’s drivers finished line-a-stern in fourth and fifth, with Leclerc’s morning benchmark keeping him ahead of teammate Carlos Sainz.
Yuki Tsunoda was sixth for AlphaTauri, ahead of Haas driver Kevin Magnussen and George Russell, who like Leclerc drove in the morning session.
Aston Martin rounded off an impressive test with Fernando Alonso and Felipe Drugovich completing the top 10.
The action starts for real next weekend with the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix.
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