rewrite this title F1 testing: Mercedes showcase pace as Antonelli, Russell top day 3 in Bahrain

Kimi Antonelli went fastest on the final day of Bahrain’s first preseason F1 test as Mercedes gave a teasing glimpse at the kind of pace many expected to see from them all week.

Antonelli’s 1:33.669 was 0.249 seconds quicker than the time teammate George Russell had set in the same car before the lunch break.

While headline times are still impossible to read too much into, Friday’s order was the first time Mercedes had looked as strong as they had during F1’s private ‘Shakedown’ event in January.

The German manufacturer has been labelled favourite for quite some time and will be looking to re-establish that next week, when testing resumes for the final three days of testing before the Australin Grand Prix on March 8.

Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari was the next quickest car, 0.5s off Antonelli’s time, but 0.3s off Russell’s lap, set at a similar time of day to Hamilton’s own fastest benchmark.

Hamilton enjoyed another hugely productive day for Ferrari, clocking 133 laps, although his car stopped on the circuit midway through the 134th, triggering the last red flag of the day.

Late stoppages in testing can be for a multitude of things, including teams driving until their car completely runs out of fuel.

McLaren’s Oscar Piastri completed a huge 153 laps for the reigning champions, who have not really given any proper glimpse into how good they might be this year.

That question ultimately still remains unanswered for most teams heading into next week.

– Fastest times, most laps from preseason in Bahrain and Barcelona- Catch up on the first three days of testing as it happened

F1 teams are likely to turn their attention more from reliability to outright performance during that second week.

Despite being top of the order, Mercedes are still insisting Red Bull’s new engine project has made their old 2021 foe the team to beat.

Red Bull had a quiet final day, with Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar completing 114 laps between them over the day.

Speaking during the day, Russell said: “I don’t think anybody should really be looking at us, you should be looking at the most competitive car on the grid which right now is the Red Bull.

“They’re not just a small step ahead, you’re talking in the order of half a second to a second in deployment over the course of a lap, so it’s pretty scary to see that difference. Red Bull have always delivered a very good car over the past 15 years even when they didn’t have a great engine, so this test has been really my opening for a lot of us.”

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Anyone wanting an answer for Russell’s prediction is true or not will ultimately have to wait until at least next week to find out.

What is perhaps crystal clear now is that Aston Martin are starting the season on a massive back foot, and again Lance Stroll finished the four-plus seconds adrift he predicted the team was lacking relative to the front runners this year, while also completing 72 laps.

Teammate Fernando Alonso did downplay that during his own media sessions, saying Aston Martin are simply encountering the issues its rivals were finding in Barcelona last month during F1’s private test. Aston Martin will hope their car has a lot more performance in hand when F1 returns.

It was a day lacking major drama otherwise, although Alpine’s Franco Colapinto almost created a viral moment at the end of the day as he spun doing a burnout while lining up in a grid spot on the start-finish straight, where he and fellow drivers have been finishing the test days by doing practice starts. Colapinto’s car narrowly avoided the wall.

Testing continues from Wednesday next week.

Final lap times on day three:

Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes, 1:33.669, 49 laps

George Russell, Mercedes, 1:33.918, 78 laps

Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari, 1:34.209, 138 laps

Oscar Piastri, McLaren, 1:34.549, 153 laps

Max Verstappen, Red Bull, 1:35.341, 61 laps

Isack Hadjar, Red Bull, 1:35.610, 53 laps

Esteban Ocon, Haas, 1:35.753, 68 laps

Franco Colapinto, Alpine, 1:35.806, 137 laps

Oliver Bearman, Haas, 1:35.972, 70 laps

Nico Hulkenberg, Audi, 1:36.291, 49 laps

Alex Albon, Williams, 1:36.793, 71 laps

Liam Lawson, Racing Bulls, 1:36.808, 119 laps

Carlos Sainz, Williams, 1:37.186, 68 laps

Gabriel Bortoleto, Audi, 1:37.536, 60 laps

Lance Stroll, Aston Martin, 1:38.165, 69 laps

Valtteri Bottas, Cadillac, 1:38.772, 37 laps

Sergio Perez, Cadillac, 1:39.251, 62 laps