Photo: Race Pictures

Ferrari engine strength on display once again as Mercedes hit first issues

12:10, 20 Feb

byTobia Elia

Esteban Ocon wrapped up the final morning of Bahrain testing with an extremely productive session.

The Frenchman once again highlighted the strong reliability of the Ferrari power unit, completing an impressive 82 laps in a single morning session.

Charles Leclerc, who also set the fastest time of the morning, completed as many as 80 laps, with Ferrari partly making up for the significant time lost in the garage yesterday due to technical issues.

A strong mileage tally as well for Arvid Lindblad, with the Red Bull-Ford-powered car completing an impressive 77 laps overall.

It was also a productive morning for Piastri and Sainz, both reaching 66 laps, while Hulkenberg, driving for Audi, completed just two fewer.

The Ferrari power unit continued to impress with Cadillac, as Perez added another 61 laps to the tally, while Hadjar brought home a further 58 laps for Red Bull.

It was a far more difficult morning for Mercedes, with Antonelli forced to park his W17 midway through the session and managing only 49 laps. Another disastrous outing for Aston Martin, meanwhile, as Stroll took to the track only for a late installation lap at the end of the session.

Lap count breakdown from Bahrain testing’s final morning

Position	Driver	Laps Completed
1	Ocon	82
2	Leclerc	80
3	Lindblad	77
4	Piastri	66
5	Sainz	66
6	Hulkenberg	64
7	Perez	61
8	Hadjar	58
9	Gasly	57
10	Antonelli	49
11	Stroll	2

Ferrari surge on final morning of Bahrain testing as Mercedes hit rare trouble

As mentioned earlier, Leclerc topped the timesheets to lead the final morning of pre-season testing in Bahrain.

The Ferrari driver posted a benchmark lap of 1:33.689, narrowly beating Antonelli to the fastest time. The session itself remained largely uneventful, with teams gradually sending their cars out on track throughout the morning.

Read the full report from the final morning session here.