Hadjar stays on top as Bahrain F3 test concludes

After topping day two, Hadjar once again vaulted himself to the top of the timesheets during the final morning of running on Friday with a 1m47.247s around the Bahrain International Circuit. 

As it turned out, most of the fastest times set in the morning remained unbeaten when the field re-emerged on track for the final session in the afternoon. 

Fellow Red Bull junior Jak Crawford ended up nearly four-tenths adrift of Hadjar’s best lap in his Prema to end the day less than a tenth clear of ART Grand Prix’s Gregoire Saucy. 

MP Motorsport pair Caio Collet and Alexander Smolyar completed the top five ahead of Campos Racing’s David Vidales, ART’s Victor Martins and Williams Academy driver Zak O’Sullivan, who put his Carlin eighth. 

Rounding out the top 10 were Kaylen Frederick for Hitech GP and Trident’s Roman Stanek, who ended up 0.793s off the pace. 

Stanek was unable to match Hadjar’s benchmark as he topped the final afternoon session, which was cut short due to a sandstorm. 

The session was red-flagged with half an hour remaining and although it did restart, low visibility amid intensifying conditions meant it was not long before the red flags flew once more, this time ending the the test for good.