Mercedes' George Russell fastest in final day of Bahrain pre-season testing! Official F1 Journal Bahrain pre-season testing report

Credit: Mark Sutton

British and Mercedes driver George Russell set the fastest time late on in the Friday afternoon session, to end Day 3 fastest overall.

Russell would run in the afternoon session, on Friday, following his teammate Andrea Kimi Antonelli appearing in the morning session. It would be late in the day lap from Russell who would dislodge Max Verstappen to end the fastest driver of Day 3.

The British driver is set for his fourth season with his Mercedes team, and with a 1:29.545 leaves the final day of pre-season testing the happiest and will look to take confidence from a very positive session, in Bahrain.

Day 3 in Bahrain was not without its dramas throughout, with the red flag making a couple of appearances throughout but they would be out for unusual circumstances.

One red flag was for a bus that so happened to enter the circuit, while the morning session was live, while another was due to broken glass right underneath the gantry on the start/finish straight, where the light controls are for the start/finish straight. This would be a pane to the drivers and teams!

George Russell (pictured) was the man fastest overall on Day 3. Credit: Sam Bloxham

Russell was 0.021 faster than Max Verstappen, which would be all he needed to beat the reigning world champion. The two drivers, who have had their disputes in recent times, were closely separated by the end of play on Friday.

The teammate of Russell, Antonelli, would have another strong day while getting used to the world of Formula One. Antonelli would finish second in the morning session, behind the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc, which would leave him 10th overall.

Verstappen on the other hand would be the only Red Bull driver to run on the final day in Bahrain, as he was scheduled to do so. This followed his teammate Liam Lawson driving for the entirety of Day 2 on Thursday. 

It was a day for Verstappen that would be wanting to use to get to grips with his 2025 spec Red Bull Racing car and in the afternoon he would go fastest for a decent amount of time, before being beaten by the Mercedes of Russell.

Two teams only fielded one driver throughout the entire day, with the driver participating in both the morning and afternoon sessions. This would follow their respective teammate doing the same on Day 2. 

This would be the situation with Verstappen and Lawson at Red Bull but would also be the situation at Williams, with Alex Albon participating throughout the final day, following Carlos Sainz participating throughout the day prior. 

Albon would complete the most laps across Friday, with 135 laps on the board for the Thai driver. He would finish third overall, a tenth back on Russell's time at the top.

Both McLaren drivers would compete across the final day in Bahrain with Lando Norris having the morning, whereas his teammate Oscar Piastri would get behind the wheel for the afternoon session.

Norris would be third in the morning session, but that would be 11th overall behind Leclerc and Antonelli, the top two of the morning session. As for Piastri, it would be a fourth place finish for him overall. 

The top five would be completed by the Alpine of Pierre Gasly, who had a great afternoon session, which would make a positive end to the pre-season testing in Bahrain. Gasly enjoyed time at the top of the times in the afternoon but would ultimately finish fifth. 

As for his teammate Jack Doohan, who ran in the morning part of the day, it would be 12th overall, after a fourth place finish out of the morning runners. Doohan can take positives from the day, as at the end of the morning session, he was just three tenths shy of Norris. 

Ferrari's Charles Leclerc was the fastest of the morning runners. Credit: Clive Mason

Ferrari duo Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton would both end up in the top 10 overall, with both having one session each across the day. Leclerc did everything he could in the morning session to stay at the top, as he finished the morning session fastest. However, he would finish eighth.

As for Hamilton, he would end up in sixth place, in a session that was pretty quiet for the seven-time champion, when comparing his session to the other drivers on the grid. It would be less than 50 across the four-hour afternoon session for Hamilton.

Over at Visa Cash App Racing Bulls, both drivers Yuki Tsunoda and Isack Hadjar would have a mixture of days, with both getting valuable data for their team in a combination of simulation programmes, to aid their strategy department and Engineers' team.

Tsunoda competing in the afternoon would see himself finish seventh, behind the Ferrari of Hamilton. Whereas, his teammate Hadjar was down in 15th, almost nine tenths off the best morning time, set by Leclerc in ninth.

Esteban Ocon and Oliver Bearman of Haas were embarking on a brand new era for the team, with them being a completely different lineup to the team's 2024 duo of Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg.

Ocon would be running in the afternoon session, following Bearman's morning outing. When the Frenchman got in the car, it would be a session where he would end up in eighth place, but it would fail to come without slight drama.

Ocon would have a spin during the session in the first two corners complex, which was a similar incident to the two previous days action where Lawson and Sainz had a spin there, in the first and second days respectively.

As for his British teammate Bearman, it would be a bit more of a difficult day as he would end up 18th and bottom of the 18 drivers that competed in the third and final day. His day would be hampered with his engine cover blowing off the car, making him miss a lot of track time.

Over at Aston Martin, it would be a day that would see both drivers, Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll, finish outside the top 10. Both drivers were scheduled to have a session each. However, during the afternoon session, Stroll became unwell and therefore vacated the seat.

Before pulling away from the Day 3 action, Stroll would set some representative lap times and would finish 13th. He competed in the afternoon session, until he vacated the car. Alonso, who finished 16th. Alonso took the car for the rest of the afternoon in place of his teammate. This followed him appearing in the morning session.

Last but not least, at Sauber, their two drivers Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto were closely matched on pace, with both having a session in each on Friday, at the Sakhir International Circuit.

Hulkenberg would be the higher placing driver in 14th, with Bortoleto in 17th place. The Swiss team struggled for pace in 2024 but had hopefully used pre-season to give them valuable information to fix things for the racing season.

The regular racing season of the 2025 FIA Formula One World Championship would be next on the list and it will all begin on March 14, with Free Practice 1 at Albert Park in Melbourne, Australia. Albert Park will be hosting an opening round of the Formula One World Championship for the first time since 2019.

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2025 FIA Formula One World Championship: Bahrain Pre-Season Testing - Day 3 Overall classification

Brandon Whiteside
Writer - F1 Journal