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In the final practice session at the Bahrain International circuit today, Max Verstappen topped the timesheets ahead of Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel in a session that saw the drivers perfecting their set ups and seeing where they need to improve before qualifying this afternoon.
With the track temperature at the start of the session so high, most opted to hang back for potentially slightly cooler conditions that would be closer to those for the evening qualifying session.
At the halfway mark of FP3, Toro Rosso pairing Daniil Kvyat and Carlos Sainz Jr held first and second place. However Valtteri Bottas was set to knock Kvyat off top spot when he headed out on super-softs, but he locked up and ran off the circuit at the last corner, therefore ruining his lap.
In the second half of the session, Haas driver Romain Grosjean then lost the rear of his Haas through Turn 4, spinning into the barrier and losing his nose. The session was red-flagged, but the delay was only five minutes as Grosjean recovered to the pits without assistance.
Shortly after the restart, Kimi Raikkonen went fastest with a 1m32.785s, despite running wide at the final corner, before being relegated to second by Bottas.
But it was Max Verstappen who was fastest with a lap time of 1:32.194 ahead of Lewis Hamilton in second place who was 0.110 seconds behind him and ahead of Sebastian Vettel in third place who was 0.566 seconds behind Verstappen
Valtteri Bottas finished the session in fourth place ahead of Kimi Raikkonen in fifth place, Felipe Massa in sixth place, Daniel Ricciardo in seventh place, Nico Hulkenberg in eighth place, Carlos Sainz Jr in ninth place and Daniil Kvyat who rounded off the top ten finishers.
Sergio Perez ended the session in eleventh place ahead of Fernando Alonso in twelfth place, Pascal Wehrlein in thirteenth place, Lance Stroll in fourteenth place and Stoffel Vandoorne in fifteenth place.
As we head into the latter stages of the grid, Esteban Ocon ended the session in sixteenth place ahead of Kevin Magnussen in seventeenth place, Romain Grosjean in eighteenth place, Marcus Ericsson in nineteenth place and Jolyon Palmer in twentieth place.
The classification of FP3 for the Bahrain GP is as follows:-
1. Max Verstappen, Red-Bull-TAG Heuer, 1.32.194
2. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 0.110s
3. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, 0.556s
4. Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes, 0.560s
5. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 0.591s
6. Felipe Massa, Williams-Mercedes, 0.607s
7. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull-TAG Heuer, 0.617s
8. Nico Hulkenberg, Renault, 0.739s
9. Carlos Sainz Jr, Toro Rosso, 1.410s
10. Daniil Kvyat, Toro Rosso, 1.550s
11. Sergio Perez, Force India-Mercedes, 1.722s
12. Fernando Alonso, McLaren-Honda, 1.728s
13. Pascal Wehrlein, Sauber-Ferrari, 1.753s
14. Lance Stroll, Williams-Mercedes, 1.771s
15. Stoffel Vandoorne, McLaren-Honda, 1.833s
16. Esteban Ocon, Force India-Mercedes, 1.870s
17. Kevin Magnussen, Haas Ferrari, 2.004s
18. Romain Grosjean, Haas Ferrari, 2.011s
19. Marcus Ericsson, Sauber-Ferrari, 2.074s
20. Jolyon Palmer, Renault, 2.223s
Driving for Pleasure will be covering the Bahrain GP weekend with our qualifying and race reports alongside the latest news.
Sarah Jones- @jonesy_laaa
