Formula 1: Red Bull’s Perez leads final day of F1 testing, Hamilton 2nd

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton was .36 seconds behind Perez in second but the twitchy W14 again experienced problems with balance and traction.

Sergio Perez of Mexico and Red Bull Racing stops in the Pitlane during day three of F1 Testing at Bahrain International Circuit. | Photo Credit: MARK THOMPSON/Getty Images

Red Bull driver Sergio Perez moved up the leaderboard as the sun went down to lead the third and final day of Formula One testing on Saturday.

It underlined how strong Red Bull looks heading into next weekend’s season-opening race on the same Sakhir desert circuit in Bahrain. Defending world champion Max Verstappen led the first test day.

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton was .36 seconds behind Perez in second but the twitchy W14 again experienced problems with balance and traction.

Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas was .52 behind Perez in third ahead of Ferrari drivers Charles Leclerc — who led after the morning session — and Carlos Sainz Jr. The Ferraris were around .7 seconds off Perez’s pace.

Perez drove all day and completed 133 laps. Bottas racked 131. Only Alex Albon did more than them with 136 laps for Williams, while the seven-time F1 champion Hamilton did 65.

As temperatures cooled under floodlights at the desert track, there was a flurry of time changes.

Hamilton overtook the Ferraris before Perez zoomed to the top and Bottas made a late charge to push the Ferraris down.

Leclerc is one of the most dedicated drivers in F1, and he spent the final minutes on the pit wall scrutinizing time charts and other information with headphones on.

AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda was in sixth spot ahead of Haas driver Kevin Magnussen. Mercedes’ George Russell, who drove in the morning, was eighth.

With Lance Stroll still sidelined because of a wrist injury in a bicycle accident, Aston Martin again used F2 champion Felipe Drugovich. He was 10th behind teammate Fernando Alonso.

It is uncertain whether Stroll will recover in time to race next weekend, and Alonso offered no indication.

“No news,” the two-time F1 champion said. “It’s a private matter.”

There was a brief red flag minutes into the morning start after some debris was cleared off the track, seemingly from Perez’s RB19.

A second red flag came out when Bottas parked up in a run-off area. His teammate Zhou Guanyu topped day two of testing, showing Alfa Romeo’s encouraging pace and reliability.

Testing offers a rough guide to a team’s speed, with the cars often set up in very different ways or sometimes holding some speed back.

But McLaren CEO Zak Brown said on Friday he felt his team was behind its projected targets.

Brown will hardly have been reassured when Australian driver Oscar Piastri had a big spin on the track, although he recovered quickly. Lando Norris took over in the afternoon but placed only 11th, with Piastri in 16th.

“There’s definitely still a fair bit of learning to do,” said Piastri, who was cleared to drive for McLaren after a contract dispute with Alpine last year.