Hadjar stays top in final day of FIA F3 Bahrain testing

The 17-year-old Frenchman, who finished fifth in the 2021 Formula Regional European Championship, set a 1m47.247s during the morning session to top the timesheets.

Hadjar had gone quickest on Thursday with a marginally slower time of 1m47.516s, his chart-topping effort also coming in the morning session.

The last day of the three-day test was ended prematurely after a red flag with five minutes to go, with Trident driver Roman Stanek atop the afternoon session times on a 1m48.182s.

There was also a stoppage 30 minutes earlier, when Charouz driver Laszlo Toth came to a halt on track.

All of Friday’s quickest times came in the morning session, with 2021 Hitech driver Jak Crawford taking second for his new Prema Racing squad, just under four-tenths behind his fellow Red Bull junior Hadjar.

ART Grand Prix rookie Gregoire Saucy finished third, setting a 1m47.719s lap earlier in the day, with MP Motorsport returnee Caio Collet in fourth and team-mate Alexander Smolyar in fifth.

Rookie David Vidales, driving for Campos Racing, was sixth with a 1m47.971s, with Alpine junior Victor Martins seventh having switched from MP Motorsport to ART Grand Prix.

The red flag was flown 10 minutes into the morning session after Kaylen Frederick (Hitech) came to a stop at Turn 3.

Track conditions were mixed in the afternoon, with drivers told to switch on their rear lights due to dust and sand on the circuit causing poor visibility that ultimately caused the Formula 2 afternoon session to be cancelled.

Van Amersfoort Racing’s Reece Ushijima finished second in the afternoon, the GB3 graduate posting a best effort six-tenths behind Stanek, with Trident rookie Zane Maloney in third with a 1m48.807s.

Fellow VAR rookie Franco Colapinto finished