Pre-season testing is over and in just a handful of days, the 2023 Formula 1 season will get underway with the Bahrain Grand Prix weekend.

Three days of testing occurred at the Bahrain track earlier this week as teams looked to gather data on their new challengers.

Testing doesn’t provide a definite answer as to how the grid will shape up for the upcoming campaign, but it’s clear that some teams are in better positions than others.

Heading into the 2023 season, Red Bull is favourite once again as it enjoyed a smooth test, setting the fastest lap of the event with Sergio Perez.

Ferrari and Mercedes will be hoping to dethrone their rivals, while there may well be a shift in the midfield pack.

Aston Martin caught the eye of many onlookers during the test, and it has been tipped to be fighting at the head of the midfield at the start of the new campaign.

Fernando Alonso, who has joined it for the upcoming year after spending the last two seasons with Alpine, led the drivers in total lap count across the three days.

Alonso clocked 70 per cent of Aston Martin’s mileage during the three days, and despite being the most seasoned driver behind the wheel of a 2023 car, the team itself languishes further down the lap tally.

Heading that particular standing is AlphaTauri who had few troubles during the test as it clocked up the on-track lap count.

McLaren, however, suffered a challenging few days with various issues popping up – meaning it is the least experienced squad heading into the 2023 campaign.

Out of the four Power Unit suppliers, it comes as no surprise that Mercedes set the most mileage, given it is the only squad to deliver engines to four teams.

It was followed by Ferrari, who has three suppliers, with Red Bull and Renault rounding out the short list.

Renault, who solely powers Alpine, was the only manufacturer not to breach 2,000km covered across the test.

The fastest lap times were set on the final day of running, with Sergio Perez taking the top spot for Red Bull.

However, there’s no indication of what engine modes or fuel levels teams are running during these tests, so establishing a pecking order based on the best times is near impossible.

Nevertheless, the fastest times feature a variety of teams, with Zhou Guanyu’s effort from day two being the only time on the list not to be set on the last day of action.

Frederic Vasseur revealed on Saturday that the Ferrari squad are quietly confident about the performance of the SF-75 following Formula 1’s pre-season testing but he admitted that it was too early to make any conclusive judgements. 

Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc completed a total of 415 laps between them over the three-day test and the pair put in some competitive lap times, albeit with the caveat that teams typically run in lower engine modes or with higher fuel loads during testing runs. 

Ferrari did have some problems sprung on them though, on the first day, part of the front wing gave way. The dip was quickly given the nickname “dimple”  and was due to a structural weakness which was quickly fixed. 

“It has been three intense days of work for everyone in the team,” Vasseur said following the third day of testing.

“We have scanned a number of items on the car and ticked many of the boxes of our programme, without worrying about lap times or what the others have been doing, simply focusing on ourselves.”

Ignoring Red Bull’s strong testing performance in Bahrain would have been difficult for the team. Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez consistently set fastest laps throughout the test and were able to put in a similar 412 laps between them.  

“The main target was getting as much mileage under our belt as possible and we did that, although it’s also true that you always want to do more and have more time. But it’s the same for everyone. 

“Whenever we managed to put everything together the performance seemed to be there, but we are clearly still in the process of getting to know the car so it’s too early to say anything.

“The mood in the team is perfect and we are in a good shape to start this long season.”

Vassuer took over from former Team Principal Mattia Binotto in December after a frustrating end to the 2022 season. Ferrari’s technical advancements failed to keep pace with those that Red Bull made, and ultimately Leclerc lost his grip on the World Championship despite initially having a strong start to the season. 

Ferrari’s confidence has been obvious so far this year. The team even chose to run the SF-75  on track in front media at their car launch in February. 

They will now be hoping to translate that confidence into performance as they head into the first race weekend of the season next week. 

Aston Martin has hinted that it has multiple alternative options to replace Lance Stroll for the Bahrain Grand Prix next weekend.

Stroll was forced to skip pre-season testing this week after injuring his wrists in a biking accident.

He has not yet been confirmed for the season-opening race in Sakhir, with Felipe Drugovich called up to replace him for the pre-season sessions.

“The team has to do its homework,” said Aston Martin team boss Mike Krack. “We have a situation that isn’t 100 per cent clear.

“From that point of view, you do your homework and you also have one of your reserve drivers that is available, that is here, to prepare him for the case that it is necessary [to put him in the car].”

However, Drugovich, who is the reigning Formula 2 champion, may not be the sole contender for the drive should Stroll’s absence be extended.

“We want to have Lance back in the car,” Krack added. “But we have to wait [for] what he says and what the doctors are saying.

“The Plan B we have to decide, we have some Plan Bs, we have to decide the Plan B when the Plan A is done.”

Aston Martin also has Stoffel Vandoorne signed as a reserve driver for the 2023 season, with the Belgian driver switching to Formula E competition following his F1 exit at the end of 2018.

Krack says that Stroll’s potential replacement is “something that we will have to discuss in the next days” as Aston Martin holds out hope that the Canadian driver will be fit to return.

The team is set to wait until the last possible moment to confirm its line-up for the first event of the year, with Stroll missing just one race (2020 Eifel Grand Prix) since making his F1 debut in 2017.

Stroll is also set to jump into Aston Martin’s simulator in the coming days to further evaluate his ability to climb back behind the wheel.

Another possibility that was thrown at Krack was a sensational return for Sebastian Vettel, who retired from F1 at the end of 2022.

However, Krack suggested that this would be an unlikely scenario for the team.

“He had a very, very thorough plan in mind for his retirement,” he said. 

“And I think this is also something that you have to respect. Let’s see what’s happening.”

But when asked if Vettel has shown an interest in returning for a one-off appearance, Krack said: “I will not tell you.”

Fernando Alonso says that Lance Stroll’s absence from Aston Martin at pre-season testing is hurting the team due to his inability to provide car feedback.

Stroll was forced to skip testing at the Bahrain International Circuit after he was involved in a biking accident in Spain while training for the new campaign.

Alonso has joined Aston Martin for the 2023 campaign and although he stands as the most tenured driver in Formula 1 history, he is new to the Silverstone-based squad’s operating methods.

Aston Martin called up Felipe Drugovich to replace Stroll for the test, handing the rookie valuable time behind the wheel of the AMR23.

As Stroll has vast experience with the team, having joined it in 2019 when it ran under the Racing Point guise, his feedback and communication ability with the team will prove valuable as it develops the car this year.

But his unavailability during the three days of pre-season running is leaving Aston Martin slightly impaired, according to Alonso.

“It hurt a lot,” he said. “I think we miss him because some of my comments and feelings with the car, we never know if it’s just me in a new team and a new car.

“Was [it] just maybe an Aston Martin thing that Lance could spot it? Brake pedal feeling, power steering, I don’t know if these are a legacy thing with the team or new in this car.

“So we cannot do it without him. So I hope he can come [back] very soon.”

Aston Martin has not yet committed to Stroll for the season-opening race as it waits to hear news of his condition.

Despite the setback, the green-liveried team has been tipped to be a major player in the midfield battle this year as its car attracted positive attention in Bahrain.

“It was very important and very nice week for us, finally, with the new car we did a filming day at Silverstone but that never feels enough because there are only eight laps I think that we did there,” Alonso said. 

“And yeah, obviously it is now go-time, we need to make the car as fast as possible for next week, race one.

“But we feel like there is a lot more to come from the car that we didn’t have time yet in testing – only three days – but step by step the team is working flat out.

“The car felt good all three days, we’ve been experimenting a little bit with very different routes on set-ups, and we found always positives on these new routes, so there is a clear indication that we need to change philosophy in many things on this car compared to last year’s car. 

“And that obviously is a concern in a way because we will need a couple of races to optimise the package.”

Sergio Perez achieved the fastest lap time as Red Bull set the pace in Bahrain on the final day of Formula 1 pre-season testing ahead of the 2023 season.

Perez traded times with Lewis Hamilton late in the day, with the Mexican’s best effort of a 1:30.305 on the C4 compound enough for him to prevail by 0.3s over the lead Mercedes driver.

Charles Leclerc had led the morning session and his previous benchmark time kept him marginally ahead of Ferrari team-mate Carlos Sainz, as both remained inside the top five.

READ MORE: F1 2023 Pre-season testing – Day 3 Results

The Ferrari duo were beaten by an impressive lap from Valtteri Bottas in the Alfa Romeo, recovering from his earlier stoppage to wound up third.

Yuki Tsunoda and Kevin Magnussen also took advantage of the cooler track conditions and grippier rubber to post quick enough times to be classified sixth and seventh respectively.

The top 10 was completed by George Russell and the Aston Martin pair of Fernando Alonso and Felipe Drugovich, continuing to stand in for the injured Lance Stroll.  

With only one session left for the teams to learn about its respective packages before the beginning of the season, several cars appeared on the track early in the session once the green light appeared at the end of the pit lane.

Among that group included the Alpine of Esteban Ocon and the McLaren of Lando Norris – perhaps unsurprising with those two teams possessing the least mileage of any side in testing to that point.

As the teams worked through its respective plans with a predominant focus on completing race runs on the harder compounds, Ferrari became the first team to bolt on the softer rubber.

Sainz, fitted with the C4 tyre, fell 0.138s short of Leclerc on his first foray before his second push lap brought him even closer to his team-mate – leaving him only 0.012s shy.

As darkness began to descend on the circuit, the commencement of more performance runs began, resulting in a flurry of changes to the timing order late in the day.

Hamilton ventured out on the grippiest C5 compound and the Brit immediately managed to eclipse what Leclerc had managed earlier on by two-tenths.

However, his time leading the charts remained brief as Perez, on the slightly harder C4 configuration, soon went even quicker than the Mercedes.

Although Hamilton would come close to snatching it back, Perez eventually improved again to extend his advantage to end proceedings nearly four-tenths clear of anybody else.

Despite being pipped, competing for top honours on the performance-orientated runs marked a much better day for the Mercedes outfit, following a troublesome Friday.

Although Hamilton appeared more content with the W14, the seven-time champion continued to notably struggle on traction during the long runs, suggesting the German outfit still has a slight handling imbalance to cure ahead of next weekend’s race.

With no stoppages past the lunch break – apart from the scheduled Virtual Safety Car and red flag procedural tests in the dying embers – Alfa Romeo was able to recover the mileage lost from the suspected engine failure Bottas suffered towards the end of the morning.

The Finn returned early in the afternoon to clock over 100 laps of running – a feat that every team on the grid managed, except for McLaren.

The Woking-based entity had been hampered by problems in the morning, which continued into the afternoon as Norris managed only 37 laps in the session.

Aside from being the pace-setting team in three of the six sessions, Red Bull’s faultless reliability record remained intact to enable Perez to also surpass the century marks for laps completed.

So, pre-season testing has ended for another year and it’s concluded in the exact same manner it started: a Red Bull at the top of the timesheets and the RB19 appearing in strong shape for the Austrian side’s title defence.

The next time the 2023 F1 cars will hit the track will be for the opening grand prix of the year, taking place next week at the same Bahrain International Circuit venue as the past three days of testing.

Sergio Perez ended the final day of pre-season testing on top of the timesheet, boasting a lead of three-and-a-half tenths over Lewis Hamilton.

Drivers got their final taste of their 2023 cars ahead of next weekend’s season-opener in Bahrain.

READ MORE: F1 2023 Pre-season testing – Day 3 Report

Valtteri Bottas was third for Alfa Romeo, while the Ferrari duo of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz were fourth and fifth respectively.

McLaren endured a difficult day as running was limited by various issues that cropped up during the day.

Take a look at the complete times from the test below.

	Position		Driver	Team	Time	Gap	Laps
	1		Sergio Perez	Red Bull	1:30.305		133
	2		Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:30.664	0.359	65
	3		Valtteri Bottas	Alfa Romeo	1:30.827	0.522	131
	4		Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	1:31.024	0.719	67
	5		Carlos Sainz Jr	Ferrari	1:31.036	0.731	76
	6		Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri	1:31.261	0.956	79
	7		Kevin Magnussen	Haas	1:31.381	1.076	95
	8		George Russell	Mercedes	1:31.442	1.137	83
	9		Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin	1:31.450	1.145	80
	10		Felipe Drugovich	Aston Martin	1:32.075	1.770	77
	11		Lando Norris	McLaren	1:32.160	1.855	37
	12		Pierre Gasly	Alpine	1:32.762	2.457	56
	13		Alex Albon	Williams	1:32.762	2.488	136
	14		Esteban Ocon	Alpine	1:32.793	2.952	76
	15		Nico Hulkenberg	Haas	1:33.329	3.024	77
	16		Oscar Piastri	McLaren	1:33.655	3.350	44
	17		Nyck de Vries	AlphaTauri	1:38.244	7.939	87

Charles Leclerc ended the final morning session of pre-season testing from Bahrain on top of the timesheets.

The Monegasque driver bested George Russell in the Mercedes, who returned to the track after a hydraulic problem brought an early end to his session on Friday.

There were two red flags during the session, the first of which was called for debris on the circuit.

However, the second red flag was deployed after Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas stopped on the track with an issue.

It was also a difficult session for McLaren, who clocked just 44 laps through Oscar Piastri.

The Woking-based squad was forced to spend a lot of time in the garage to fix an issue with its front wing.

“The team are currently conducting some temporary strengthening work on the front winglets to ensure we can complete today’s running,” it clarified during the session. 

“It’s a very minor issue that will be permanently fixed for the Grand Prix next weekend.”

Felipe Drugovich was called back up for Aston Martin for the morning and ended up in third place amid rumours that he will be called upon to race for the team next week in place of the injured Lance Stroll.

Sergio Perez was fourth fastest and will carry over driving duties for Red Bull into the evening.

Pierre Gasly was fifth for Alpine, ahead of Alexander Albon for Williams.

Nico Hulkenberg was seventh, while Oscar Piastri was eighth for the troubling outing for the McLaren team.

Bottas’ stoppage saw him finish the session in ninth place, while the top 10 was rounded out by AlphaTauri’s Nyck de Vries.

Follow Motorsport Week’s live commentary of pre-season testing from the Bahrain International Circuit.

Formula 1 pre-season testing will conclude today (Saturday) with the final day of the three-day test to take place in Bahrain.

It will mark the final opportunity for teams – bar those who have arranged filming days – to fettle their new-for-2023 machines ahead of next weekend’s opening round in the country.

Aston Martin reserve driver Felipe Drugovich will return to the Aston Martin AMR23 amid speculation that he is primed to replace Lance Stroll if the Canadian is deemed unfit for the opening round of the season.

As per the opening two days running will take place from 10:00 through 19:30, with a one-hour break at 14:15.

	Team	AM	PM
	Red Bull Racing	Sergio Perez	Sergio Perez
	Ferrari	Charles Leclerc	Carlos Sainz
	Mercedes	George Russell	Lewis Hamilton
	Alpine	Pierre Gasly	Esteban Ocon
	McLaren	Oscar Piastri	Lando Norris
	Alfa Romeo	Valtteri Bottas	Valtteri Bottas
	Aston Martin	Felipe Drugovich	Fernando Alonso
	Haas	Nico Hulkenberg	Kevin Magnussen
	AlphaTauri	Nyck de Vries	Yuki Tsunoda
	Williams	Alexander Albon	Alexander Albon

Guanyu Zhou has acknowledged that setting the fastest lap time on the second day of Formula 1 pre-season testing means relatively little at this stage, despite it being a “nice” feeling to see his name at the top.

The Alfa Romeo driver clocked a time of 1:31.610 late in the day around the Bahrain International Circuit to displace Max Verstappen at the top, albeit on a two-step softer compound of tyre choice.

Last year Alfa Romeo suffered numerous setbacks in winter testing, which led to it eventually completing the second least laps of any constructor.

This year, however, the Italian marque has endured a much smoother time of things, with Zhou also completing a colossal 133 laps on Friday to add to the 138 the team accumulated on the opening day.

Although Zhou has downplayed the significance of his table-topping time, the ex-Alpine affiliate has expressed positivity over Alfa Romeo’s prospects for 2023.

“We are well aware this is testing, of course, and everyone is trying different settings, but it feels nice to see my name and that of the team up there in the timing sheets,” Zhou remarked.

“It’s been a positive day overall, we got more mileage in and went through all the targets and tasks we had set for ourselves, so I can say I am happy. The car felt reasonably good, both in daytime and night-time conditions, and I felt more confident pushing as the day progressed.”

After completing a full day in the car to add to his morning session from Thursday, Zhou will hand over the reins to Valtteri Bottas for all of tomorrow.

The next time the Chinese driver sits inside the cockpit of the C43 will be in a week’s time for the start of the season-opening Bahrain GP weekend.

Since navigating his rookie campaign impressively enough to retain his drive for the upcoming year, Zhou feels prepared as he looks ahead to his sophomore season in the sport.   

“Today was the final day of pre-season testing for me, and I am very much looking forward to the start of the season next week,” he added.

“I feel ready and excited about the new campaign, and I can’t wait to be racing again.”

Along with all the other teams, Alfa Romeo will have one final day to gather critical data about its new package before the season begins at the same Bahrain venue next weekend.

The Hinwil-based outfit is aiming to build on a moderately impressive campaign last term, when it moved up three spots in the Constructors’ championship to sixth.

But following a string of reliability woes and a stagnant development programme, the team’s top technical brass believes it has eliminated the problems that blighted its early-season promise in 2022.