The Scuderia Ferrari secured victory once again on the last day of pre-season testing, with Charles Leclerc topping the timesheets.
Unbelievably, another drain cover caused trouble, tearing open and requiring repairs. Meanwhile, valuable test time was ticking away as the cars sat in the pits. Is it just us, or does it seem incredible that Bahrain, hosting the first Formula 1 race of the season in just a week, is so unprepared?
In response to the incidents, the organizers tried to make up for lost time by canceling the lunch break. However, this was only partially successful, as most teams scheduled their driver changes during this period. It was during this time that Charles Leclerc took over from Carlos Sainz, who had set the pace in the morning, and ultimately carried on the "legacy" by putting Ferrari on top. Nevertheless, what's less notable is that Leclerc set his fastest time on the C4 compound tires, with George Russell and Guanyu Zhou also making it into the top 3 on these compounds. More significant is that Max Verstappen, concluding Red Bull Racing's testing program, finished fourth, with a mere four tenths behind, using the harder C3 Pirellis. Fernando Alonso quickly remarked, "19 drivers will be hopeless for the championship title this season..."
However, that's a story for another day.
