12 March 2022
Drivers and Team’s reactions at the end of the 2022 Bahrain F1 Test, Day 3.
Bahrain International Circuit, Bahrain – Length 5.412 km
Total across three days: 371 laps (2,007.852km)
Pierre Gasly #10
Time: 1:34.865
91 laps – 492.492 km
Pos. 12th
“It’s good to be back to the nice weather here in Bahrain. We’ve had a pretty smooth test from our side, we completed all the program that we had planned for the three days here. We had a lot of question marks coming here and we’ve already managed to get some answers to these. I think we still need to sit down for a few days and review all the data we’ve collected, to try and put the puzzle together, so we can get the best possible car for next weekend. Obviously, it’s a new car so there are lots of things to learn, I would say there are still areas that we need to improve for the season but that’s part of the game when you have such a big change in F1. We have a rough idea of where we might be in the midfield, but we still don’t know where we’ll be until next week. It was great having the battle out there with Lewis today, we overtook each other a few times. Following definitely felt like an improvement to the previous car so that’s a big positive for the upcoming season, racing should be quite fun this year.”
Yuki Tsunoda #22
Time: 1:33.002
57 laps – 308.484 km
Pos. 6th
“We’ve made good progress as a team this week, I’m happy with how this test has gone and we’ve gathered a lot of important data. However, I’m not happy with how my lap went today on the C5 tyre, I think there was lots more potential there but unfortunately, I just couldn’t put it together. There are still lots of things to improve myself, and the car, but I think overall it’s been a good few days of testing. I haven’t driven too much around other cars, but from what I’ve felt so far I think the dirty air is reduced a lot compared to last year, so it’s already easier to follow and I’ve enjoyed it. I’ve got a good level of confidence heading into the first race next week. It’s a bit different to last year, as I’ve got more experience, and have focussed more on developing the car with the team. We don’t know exactly what position we’re in at the moment, but we’ve got a couple of days to work before Bahrain. We’ve got a good team and we’ll keep focussed ahead of the first race.”
Jody Egginton (Technical Director)
“It’s been a very productive final day of testing, which has allowed a good number of test items to be covered and our understanding of the AT03 has moved a big step forward, with some interesting set up directions being identified. Pierre completed a program of long runs in the morning, where we gathered some important tyre data, and allowed the engineers to get a good read of the compounds. Yuki then took over for the afternoon and focussed on a range of mechanical and tyre related set-up items, which again yielded some useful data. Overall, we are satisfied with our testing here in Bahrain. We now have to process and analyse the huge amount of data we have collected to be as prepared as possible for the first race of the season.”
Franz Tost (Team Principal)
“The test period is over now and in one week we will have the first race. We’ve had two quite successful tests, first in Barcelona and now this week here in Bahrain. We have completed 371 laps (2,007.852km) across all three days. The most important aspect is that we’ve collected lots of data, which is crucial for further development steps, as we need to find out the correlation between the race track, CFD and wind tunnel. There’s still some work to do from the set-up side, but the engineers have now got quite a good understanding of which direction to take. We have a strong package, the car is reliable, we have two very good drivers and the team has made a big step forward, therefore I expect a successful season.
"Yuki, that's the end. You can jump out" says his engineer. "
