Sergio Perez shines as teams pile in the laps on final day in Bahrain

Sergio Perez in his Red Bull. — Photo: © LAT Images

Pre-season testing

Perez shines as teams pile in the laps on final day in Bahrain

Eight teams completed more than a race distance on Sunday morning

Sam Hall

Sunday 14 March 2021 12:03 Updated: 12:19

Sergio Perez topped the timesheet on the final morning of Formula 1 pre-season testing albeit completing the least mileage of the 10 drivers on track.

Whilst the eye-catching times of testing had, until Sunday morning, been set in the later sessions in the day, Perez's best lap of his 49 of the Bahrain International Circuit of one minute 30.187secs was the fastest of the three days so far.

Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc spent the early stages of the session out in front, with the Monégasque setting his time on the medium-compound tyre inside the first half an hour. Perez posted his lap on the soft Pirelli rubber.

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Leclerc ended the morning second, with Lando Norris enjoying another strong day in the McLaren MCL35M to claim third, nearly half-a-second adrift.

Pierre Gasly finished his pre-season testing fourth for AlphaTauri, improving his time but not his position with a late effort on the soft tyres.

George Russell was eighth fastest on his first appearance in the new Williams after reserve Roy Nissany and team-mate Nicholas Latifi had driven on Friday and Saturday respectively.

For many, the session seemed more of an exercise in putting in the miles more than setting the timesheet alight.

Top in this respect was Alfa Romeo's Kimi Raikkonen with 91 laps to his name, while Valtteri Bottas added 86 to his tally in his Mercedes, with Leclerc and Lance Stroll completing 80, with the latter nearly six seconds down on Perez's leading time.

Only Red Bull [49] and McLaren [56] fell short of completing a race distance - 57 laps.