VERSTAPPEN SETS THE FASTEST LAP AS PRE SEASON TESTING COMES TO AN END

Red Bull's Max Verstappen set the pace on the final day of pre-season testing, just ahead of AlphaTauri rookie Yuki Tsunoda who ensured a Honda-engined one-two at the top of the time sheets in Bahrain.

Tsunoda set a string of flying laps late in the session on softest C5 tyres, and as Verstappen bolted on C4s, the two engaged in a scintillating time attack under the lights. But it was Verstappen who came out top with a time of 1m28.960s, Tsunoda just 0.093s off. Verstappen’s team mate Perez topped the standings in the mornign session on C4 tyres and ended up sixth overall to complete an encouraging test for Red Bull.

Third quickest was Carlos Sainz, who suffered a brief pause in running thanks to a hydraulic issue, but had a total of 79 laps to his name having emerged late in the session. His Ferrari team mate Charles Leclerc finished second in the morning and 10th overall on medium compounds.

World Champion Lewis Hamilton lost valuable time having been confined to the garage for the first hour of the afternoon, and he only emerged when the sun began to set. The Briton used the softest compound late on to improve to fifth overall, behind Raikkonen – who completed nearly 165 laps to lead the mileage charts.

Watch the video above for the full results.

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