2021 Pre-Season Testing

2021 Pre-Season Testing
Test Information
Date	12–14 March 2021
Location	Bahrain International Circuit
Lap length	5.412 km (3.364 mi)
Fastest Lap
Driver	Max Verstappen
Team	Red Bull Racing-Honda
Time	Day		Laps
1:28.960	3		64
Testing Guide
Previous 2020 Barcelona Test 2		Next 2022 Barcelona Test

The 2021 Pre-Season test (officially the Formula 1 Aramco Pre-Season Testing 2021) was the pre-season test ahead of the 2021 Formula One Season, staged at the Bahrain International Circuit between 12 to 14 March 2021. All ten entrants to the 2021 season took part.

Background

Pre-season testing for 2021 had originally been scheduled to take place at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya from March 2 to March 4. Following an updated season calendar released on January 12, which saw the Australian Grand Prix, originally scheduled to be on March 21 postponed to November 21 due to strict COVID-19 quarantine measures in Australia, all teams agreed to host pre-season testing at Bahrain from March 12 to 14, two weeks before the season-opener at the same place.

Teams and Drivers

Entry List

The full entry list for the 2021 Pre-Season Testing is outlined below:

No.	Driver	Entrant	Constructor	Chassis	Engine	Model	Tyre
3	Daniel Ricciardo	McLaren F1 Team	McLaren	MCL35M	Mercedes		P
4	Lando Norris	McLaren F1 Team	McLaren	MCL35M	Mercedes		P
5	Sebastian Vettel	Aston Martin Cognizant F1 Team	Aston Martin	AMR21	Mercedes		P
6	Nicholas Latifi	Williams Racing	Williams	FW43B	Mercedes		P
7	Kimi Räikkönen	Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN	Alfa Romeo	C41	Ferrari		P
9	Nikita Mazepin	Uralkali Haas F1 Team	Haas	VF-21	Ferrari		P
10	Pierre Gasly	Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda	AlphaTauri	AT02	Honda		P
11	Sergio Pérez	Red Bull Racing	Red Bull	RB16B	Honda		P
14	Fernando Alonso	Alpine F1 Team	Alpine	A521	Renault		P
16	Charles Leclerc	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari	SF21	Ferrari		P
18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin Cognizant F1 Team	Aston Martin	AMR21	Mercedes		P
22	Yuki Tsunoda	Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda	AlphaTauri	AT02	Honda		P
31	Esteban Ocon	Alpine F1 Team	Alpine	A521	Renault		P
33	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing	Red Bull	RB16B	Honda		P
44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team	Mercedes	F1 W12	Mercedes		P
45	Roy Nissany	Williams Racing	Williams	FW43B	Mercedes		P
47	Mick Schumacher	Uralkali Haas F1 Team	Haas	VF-21	Ferrari		P
55	Carlos Sainz, Jr.	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari	SF21	Ferrari		P
63	George Russell	Williams Racing	Williams	FW43B	Mercedes		P
77	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team	Mercedes	F1 W12	Mercedes		P
99	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN	Alfa Romeo	C41	Ferrari		P
Source:

Driver Schedules

Constructor	Day 1 AM	Day 1 PM	Day 2 AM	Day 2 PM	Day 3 AM	Day 3 PM
Alfa Romeo	Räikkönen	Giovinazzi	Giovinazzi		Räikkönen
AlphaTauri	Gasly	Tsunoda	Tsunoda	Gasly	Gasly	Tsunoda
Alpine	Ocon		Alonso		Ocon	Alonso
Aston Martin	Vettel	Stroll	Vettel	Stroll	Stroll	Vettel
Ferrari	Leclerc	Sainz	Sainz	Leclerc	Leclerc	Sainz
Haas	Schumacher	Mazepin	Mazepin	Schumacher	Schumacher	Mazepin
McLaren	Ricciardo	Norris	Ricciardo	Norris	Norris	Ricciardo
Mercedes	Bottas	Hamilton	Hamilton	Bottas	Bottas	Hamilton
Red Bull	Verstappen		Pérez		Pérez	Verstappen
Williams	Nissany		Latifi		Russell

Day-by-Day

Day One

Report

Daniel Ricciardo was fastest on the morning session for the returning McLaren-Mercedes partnership, with Honda-powered cars, Pierre Gasly from AlphaTauri and Max Verstappen from Red Bull second and third respectively. Mercedes' Valtteri Bottas and Haas debutant Mick Schumacher did not run for most of the part due to transmission issues and had to be replaced. The session was red-flagged and ended with ten minutes remaining after Charles Leclerc developed an issue in his Ferrari.

The afternoon session began with a sandstorm, but Verstappen topped the overall timing sheets with a 1:30.674, with Ricciardo's team-mate Lando Norris second, and Alpine's Esteban Ocon in third, while defending champion Lewis Hamilton was 10th fastest.

Results

The full results from the first day of the 2021 Pre-Season Testing are outlined below:

Pos.	No.	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time		Gap
					S1	S2
1	33	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing-Honda	138	1:32.245	1:30.674	—
2	4	Lando Norris	McLaren-Mercedes	45	—	1:30.889	+0.215s
3	31	Esteban Ocon	Alpine-Renault	128	1:32.959	1:31.146	+0.472s
4	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin-Mercedes	46	—	1:31.782	+1.108s
5	55	Carlos Sainz, Jr.	Ferrari	56	—	1:31.919	+1.245s
6	99	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	68	—	1:31.945	+1.271s
7	3	Daniel Ricciardo	McLaren-Mercedes	45	1:32.203		+1.529s
8	10	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri-Honda	74	1:32.231		+1.557s
9	22	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri-Honda	37	—	1:32.727	+2.053s
10	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	42	—	1:32.912	+2.238s
11	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	59	1:33.242		+2.568s
12	7	Kimi Räikkönen	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	63	1:33.320		+2.646s
13	5	Sebastian Vettel	Aston Martin-Mercedes	51	1:33.742		+3.068s
14	45	Roy Nissany	Williams-Mercedes	83	1:34.789		+4.115s
15	9	Nikita Mazepin	Haas-Ferrari	69	—	1:34.798	+4.124s
16	47	Mick Schumacher	Haas-Ferrari	15	—	1:36.127	+5.453s
17	77	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	6	1:36.850		+6.176s
Source:

• Bold indicates a driver's best time from the session.
• Indicates what tyre compound a driver set their fastest time on.

Day Two

Report

Ricciardo continued McLaren-Mercedes' strong form by once again setting the fastest time of the morning session, with the returning double champion Fernando Alonso a close second fastest for Alpine, and Sergio Perez third fastest on his debut in Red Bull. Hamilton managed eighth fastest, as a rare error from him sent him spinning and beaching his car in the gravel trap at Turn 13. Vettel was unable to run for the entire morning as his Aston Martin developed a transmission issue.

Bottas managed to turn Mercedes' fortunes around from the previous day for the afternoon session, setting the fastest time from everyone else on the C5 compound tire, ahead of Gasly, Lance Stroll, Norris and Antonio Giovinazzi, all of whom momentarily set fastest times on softer compound tires. There was a minor on-track incident that brought out the red flag, as Perez' engine cover was blown off while pulling out of the slipstream of the Williams of Nicholas Latifi.

Results

The full results from the second day of the 2021 Pre-Season Testing are outlined below:

Pos.	No.	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time*		Gap
					S1	S2
1	77	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	58	—	1:30.289	—
2	10	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri-Honda	87	—	1:30.413	+0.124s
3	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin-Mercedes	70	—	1:30.460	+0.171s
4	4	Lando Norris	McLaren-Mercedes	52	—	1:30.586	+0.297s
5	99	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	124	1:36.018	1:30.760	+0.471s
6	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	73	—	1:30.886	+0.597s
7	6	Nicholas Latifi	McLaren-Mercedes	132	1:32.541	1:31.672	+1.383s
8	11	Sergio Pérez	Red Bull Racing-Honda	117	1:32.478	1:31.682	+1.393s
9	3	Daniel Ricciardo	McLaren-Mercedes	52	1:32.315		+1.926s
10	14	Fernando Alonso	Alpine-Renault	127	1:32.339		+2.050s
11	22	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri-Honda	57	1:32.684		+2.395s
12	47	Mick Schumacher	Haas-Ferrari	88	—	1:32.883	+2.594s
13	55	Carlos Sainz, Jr.	Ferrari	56	1:33.072		+2.783s
14	9	Nikita Mazepin	Haas-Ferrari	76	1:33.101		+2.812s
15	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	58	1:33.399		+3.110s
16	5	Sebastian Vettel	Aston Martin-Mercedes	10	1:38.849		+8.560s
Source:

Day Three

Report

Red Bull showed a strong form for the final day of testing, with Perez setting the fastest time for the morning session, while Verstappen set the fastest overall test time for the afternoon session, with Japanese AlphaTauri rookie Yuki Tsunoda a close second and Ferrari's Carlos Sainz Jr third fastest. Hamilton ended fifth fastest after gradually improving his runs, despite a spin at the last turn of the track in the session's final moments. Both Aston Martins finished at the bottom of the timing sheets, with Vettel sitting out from the remaining moments of the session due to a turbo issue.

The session was overshadowed by the death of former commentator Murray Walker on the evening after the second day of testing.

Results

The full results from the third day of the 2021 Pre-Season Testing are outlined below:

Pos.	No.	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time*		Gap
					S1	S2
1	33	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing-Honda	64	—	1:28.960	—
2	22	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri-Honda	91	—	1:29.053	+0.093s
3	55	Carlos Sainz, Jr.	Ferrari	79	—	1:29.611	+0.651s
4	7	Kimi Räikkönen	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	165	1:35.274	1:29.766	+0.806s
5	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	54	—	1:30.025	+1.065s
6	63	George Russell	Williams-Mercedes	157	1:32.731	1:30.117	+1.157s
7	3	Daniel Ricciardo	McLaren-Mercedes	75	—	1:30.144	+1.184s
8	11	Sergio Pérez	Red Bull Racing-Honda	49	1:30.187		+1.227s
9	14	Fernando Alonso	Alpine-Renault	77	—	1:30.318	+1.358s
10	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	80	1:30.486		+1.526s
11	4	Lando Norris	McLaren-Mercedes	56	1:30.661		+1.701s
12	10	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri-Honda	76	1:30.828		+1.868s
13	31	Esteban Ocon	Alpine-Renault	61	1:31.310		+2.350s
14	9	Nikita Mazepin	Haas-Ferrari	67	—	1:31.531	+2.571s
15	47	Mick Schumacher	Haas-Ferrari	78	1:32.053		+3.093s
16	77	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	86	1:32.406		+3.446s
17	5	Sebastian Vettel	Aston Martin-Mercedes	56	—	1:35.041	+6.081s
18	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin-Mercedes	80	1:36.100		+7.140s
Source:

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