George Russell will be fastest on the last day of the pre-season tests in Bahrain

When the session went into the last 90 minutes, everything was changed with Aston Martin. After Lance Stroll had no more than “100%” in the morning, he had returned to the campaign for the afternoon, but was handed over to Fernando Alonso after 34 laps because he was still uncomfortable.

This caused the team to quickly work to prepare the car for Alonso, what they could do in enough time to perform the Spaniard under the floodlights on the Bahrain International Circuit for the last hour.

Read more: Leclerc sets the pace on the last morning of the pre-season tests in Bahrain

Further changes in the working time tables -the closest with Albon, while a qualified simulation on the medium -c4 tire was fastest before Verstappen took over the P1 slot again and pumped 1 m 29.566S on the C3 connection.

Although some drivers had a moment on the track in the last half hour – both Ocon and Verstappen, who triggered the yellow flags for suffering – the fastest time of the latter looked as if it were unbeaten. Russell, however, caused a surprise by jumping onto the tims castle with a round of 1 m 29.545 and defeating Verstappen by 0.021 seconds, while Albon P3 took for Williams.