Verstappen leads FP3 for Red Bull
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. | Driver | Car | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 33 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull Racing Tag Heuer | 1:32.194 | - | 8 |
| 2 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:32.304 | +0.110s | 10 |
| 3 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1:32.750 | +0.556s | 10 |
| 4 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1:32.754 | +0.560s | 13 |
| 5 | 7 | Kimi Räikkönen | Ferrari | 1:32.785 | +0.591s | 9 |
| 6 | 19 | Felipe Massa | Williams Mercedes | 1:32.801 | +0.607s | 12 |
| 7 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull Racing Tag Heuer | 1:32.809 | +0.615s | 8 |
| 8 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | Renault | 1:32.933 | +0.739s | 9 |
| 9 | 55 | Carlos Sainz | Toro Rosso | 1:33.604 | +1.410s | 18 |
| 10 | 26 | Daniil Kvyat | Toro Rosso | 1:33.744 | +1.550s | 11 |
| 11 | 11 | Sergio Perez | Force India Mercedes | 1:33.916 | +1.722s | 14 |
| 12 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren Honda | 1:33.922 | +1.728s | 10 |
| 13 | 94 | Pascal Wehrlein | Sauber Ferrari | 1:33.947 | +1.753s | 15 |
| 14 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Williams Mercedes | 1:33.965 | +1.771s | 15 |
| 15 | 2 | Stoffel Vandoorne | McLaren Honda | 1:34.027 | +1.833s | 15 |
| 16 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | Force India Mercedes | 1:34.064 | +1.870s | 17 |
| 17 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas Ferrari | 1:34.198 | +2.004s | 13 |
| 18 | 8 | Romain Grosjean | Haas Ferrari | 1:34.205 | +2.011s | 14 |
| 19 | 9 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber Ferrari | 1:34.268 | +2.074s | 15 |
| 20 | 30 | Jolyon Palmer | Renault | 1:34.417 | +2.223s | 11 |
