The cards are already dealt for the start of the World Cup a week from now in Bahrain (Sunday March 5, 4:00 p.m.). As they have hinted at in the only three days of preseason training, the Red Bull will reach the premiere of the championship being the fastest team, again as the number one enemy of the 10 teams.
Sergio Pérez swept his qualifying simulation, leaving the Ferraris at 7 tenths, with equivalent tires. And Fernando Alonso, in race simulation work, left very good feelings with the Aston Martin, which has grown to the noble zone in performance.
The best time of the three days of testing in Bahrain was recorded by Checo Pérez in a qualifying simulation, wearing the C4 soft tyre. He stopped the clock at 1:30:305; to get an idea, a time 3 tenths better than Leclerc's pole position at the inaugural 2022 Bahrain GP.
Compared to the rivals, the record of the Mexican -without knowing the gasoline conditions of his car- was significantly overwhelming, since he left the cars that wore C4s at 7 tenths of a second, the two Ferraris.
Charles Leclerc led the last session in the morning, in hot conditions, but in the afternoon, when the sun went down and the track cooled, Pérez intimidated when he put on the qualifying tires. So did the two Mercedes, although both with the hypersoft compound (C5), just like Valtteri Bottas with the Alfa Romeo, with which they still remained distanced from Red Bull, 3 tenths behind Lewis Hamilton (2nd) and 5 the Finnish (3rd).
Fernando Alonso closed the pre-season tests with a 9th position in the time table, wearing the soft C4 like Pérez, from which he was 1s145 behind. A considerable distance, but much less than the immediate precedents: Vettel stayed 2s1 behind Verstappen in the 2022 tests on the same track, and Lance Stroll 1s5 from Leclerc's pole in the first GP last year.
Although the best news for Aston Martin was to verify, for the third day, the growth of the car compared to its direct rivals in the middle area. Based on times and sensations, the Silverstone car may have gone from 7th on the grid to 4th or 5th, ahead of class contenders such as Alpine (disappointing on all three days) and McLaren. In speed, Aston Martin may be rubbing shoulders with Alfa Romeo in fourth out of the 10 teams.
In addition, according to Pedro de la Rosa, Aston Martin ambassador, commented to the Dazn TV microphone, the best news is that "the new car has surprised by its little tire degradation, at the same time of the race", in the simulation what they did "We are very happy with this low degradation that we have seen in the lap by lap." One more piece of information for optimism at Aston Martin.
