Is Max Verstappen heading into his Formula 1 title defence as the favourite? Red Bull show form on final day of testing to beat Ferrari's Charles Leclerc, with Mercedes only fifth; Watch the season-opening Bahrain GP from March 18-20, all live on Sky Sports F1
Sunday 13 March 2022 07:18, UK
Max Verstappen overhauled Ferrari to ensure an improving Red Bull finished pre-season testing on top in Bahrain, with Mercedes trailing their rivals ahead of a much-anticipated opening race of F1 2022.
Red Bull, having been relatively quiet through the first five days of winter running, debuted new upgrades - including sculpted sidepods - for their RB18 on the very final day and promptly sent warnings to the whole grid with their new-found pace.
Sergio Perez topped the morning before Verstappen surged to the front in the faster evening session, beating Charles Leclerc in the previously fancied Ferrari by 0.7seconds amid a flurry of impressive and consistent laps.
Mick Schumacher vaulted up to second late in the day, half a second off Verstappen, as Haas once again took advantage of their extra testing time and favourable testing conditions to post a notable time.
Verstappen's final time was a 1:31.720, giving him a boost before his maiden title defence starts with the Bahrain GP, all live on Sky Sports F1 on March 18-20.
Fernando Alonso finished fourth for Alpine, who enjoyed a much better Bahrain test compared to Barcelona, while George Russell put in Mercedes' best lap of the test - but it was a full second off Verstappen and only good enough for fifth.
Paddock consensus is that Mercedes, the sport's dominant team for the past eight seasons, have been holding some speed back - although Lewis Hamilton, who drove in the morning and finished 17th, is adamant about their standing.
"At the moment I don't think we will be competing for wins," stated Hamilton. "We're not the quickest at the moment. We have a significant amount of pace to find."
Valtteri Bottas was fifth for Alfa Romeo ahead of Yuki Tsunoda, but ended the day with a reliability issue,
Lando Norris - filling in for Daniel Ricciardo who has Covid-19 - was ninth for McLaren, who managed to bump up their Bahrain mileage with 90 laps following a difficult start to the test.
Through the first five days of pre-season testing and particularly the start of the more representative Bahrain event, team bosses, drivers and pundits alike were united in their views was that it was Ferrari and not last year's title rivals Red Bull and Mercedes who were the favourites heading into the opening race of F1's all-new era.
But while Ferrari still appear firmly on track to be in contention come next weekend with their reliable and quick F1-75, it was Red Bull who stole the headlines on the final day and it is Red Bull who now look in best shape.
Their upturn in form came after bringing new parts to the RB18, with a new sidepod design - not one to rival Mercedes' from earlier in the week - but enough to seemingly improve their aerodynamics and pace.
All day on Saturday, the car appeared settled and consistently fast, and the evening session provided a comparison as Verstappen, Leclerc and Russell all appeared to be pushing on soft tyres.
And while, as ever with testing, it is unclear of fuel and engine modes, Verstappen finished the day with a mighty advantage on the softest tyre, having also set a competitive time on the harder compounds.
"Red Bull have moved the game on today in terms of raw pace, long run pace," said Brundle, although he also admitted: "They've got a race on their hands with Ferrari, though."
One of the big unknowns from Bahrain, meanwhile, are Mercedes.
The world champions turned heads at the start of the test with their radical car design and many expected them to move clear, but the nifty sidepod concept never truly translated into quick lap times and, even when Russell put the softest tyres on late on Saturday, he finished a second down.
Sky F1's Martin Brundle and Anthony Davidson still predicted Mercedes would be in the fight in Bahrain, although were concerned about their 'porpoising' issues. Hamilton, meanwhile, painted a rather negative picture.
"We have some hurdles to overcome and obviously next week we'll get a much better showing of our pace," claimed the seven-time world champion.
"But I think people will be surprised, because people keep talking about whether we're talking ourselves down or not, but it's a bit different this year."
The rest of the pecking order is tough to predict although McLaren - despite a difficult Bahrain test - are still most expert's favourites to be fourth fastest right now, with Alpine, Aston Martin and AlphaTauri also in the midfield mix.
That's an easy and exciting question to answer; the official start of the Formula 1 2022 season.
The Bahrain GP - on the same track as the last test - gets underway next weekend, and Sky Sports F1 will have you covered.
Follow the weekend coverage, from first practice on Friday, March 18 through to the opening race of the season on Sunday, March 20, all live on Sky Sports F1 and our array of pundits out in the desert.
Through the week, there will also be plenty of build-up on our digital platforms, social channels and on Sky Sports News.
