Verstappen leads FP3 for Red Bull

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F1 Grand Prix, GP Bahrain, Bahrain International Circuitbh

Contrary to the team's own expectations on Friday, Max Verstappen put Red Bull on top in the final free practice session ahead of qualifying for the Bahrain Grand Prix. Lewis Hamilton was a close second, little more than a tenth down on the youngster.

Friday pacesetter Sebastian Vettel was third fastest, half a second down on Verstappen, and a tiny 0.004s ahead of Valtteri Bottas. Raikkonen followed in 5th while Massa and Ricciardo were also extremely closely matched to the cars ahead.

Nico Hulkenberg was again the fastest Renault and still less than 8 tenths down on Verstappen.

The Toro Rosso duo completed the top 10, with Sainz fastest of the two, and also the most active driver of the session in an attempt to make up for the time he lost on Friday.

Further back, Force India appeared to have dropped down the ranking a bit while at McLaren running was reliable, which was a first for Vandoorne this weekend.

Lance Stroll meanwhile was no match for his team mate during this session, but Romain Grosjean was worse off still. After complaining of inconsistent understeer, he oversteered through Turn 4 and ended up breaking off the front wing of his Haas.

Results

Pos.No.DriverCarTimeGapLaps
133Max VerstappenRed Bull Racing Tag Heuer1:32.194-8
244Lewis HamiltonMercedes1:32.304+0.110s10
35Sebastian VettelFerrari1:32.750+0.556s10
477Valtteri BottasMercedes1:32.754+0.560s13
57Kimi RäikkönenFerrari1:32.785+0.591s9
619Felipe MassaWilliams Mercedes1:32.801+0.607s12
73Daniel RicciardoRed Bull Racing Tag Heuer1:32.809+0.615s8
827Nico HulkenbergRenault1:32.933+0.739s9
955Carlos SainzToro Rosso1:33.604+1.410s18
1026Daniil KvyatToro Rosso1:33.744+1.550s11
1111Sergio PerezForce India Mercedes1:33.916+1.722s14
1214Fernando AlonsoMcLaren Honda1:33.922+1.728s10
1394Pascal WehrleinSauber Ferrari1:33.947+1.753s15
1418Lance StrollWilliams Mercedes1:33.965+1.771s15
152Stoffel VandoorneMcLaren Honda1:34.027+1.833s15
1631Esteban OconForce India Mercedes1:34.064+1.870s17
1720Kevin MagnussenHaas Ferrari1:34.198+2.004s13
188Romain GrosjeanHaas Ferrari1:34.205+2.011s14
199Marcus EricssonSauber Ferrari1:34.268+2.074s15
2030Jolyon PalmerRenault1:34.417+2.223s11