World Champion Max Verstappen remained on top during third practice for Formula 1’s Bahrain Grand Prix, with Charles Leclerc again close by.
Verstappen set a time of 1:32.544s that was not bettered by his opponents despite not clocking another hot lap following a lock-up into Turn 1.
His benchmark effort in FP3 was over half a second slower than he managed during Friday’s FP2 session, which was held in more representative weather conditions.
Verstappen’s closest rival proved to be Charles Leclerc, who recovered from a wild spin through Turn 11 to classify 0.096s behind the Red Bull driver.
Sergio Perez was third for Red Bull, with George Russell again the fastest Mercedes driver in fourth, four-tenths behind Verstappen.
Carlos Sainz was fifth for Ferrari as Lewis Hamilton placed sixth for Mercedes.
Kevin Magnussen preserved Haas’ encouraging Friday pace by classifying seventh.
Alfa Romeo underlined its potential as Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu claimed eighth and ninth respectively.
Lance Stroll put Aston Martin into the top 10, at the expense of McLaren’s Lando Norris, with Nico Hulkenberg quietly impressive in 12th spot.
AlphaTauri had a difficult session; Pierre Gasly was 13th while Yuki Tsunoda did not emerge from the garage due to a hydraulics issue.
Tsunoda tried to head out on track but was unable to steer the car.
Daniel Ricciardo was a low-key 15th for McLaren, while Alpine was low down the pecking order after opting not to run the Soft tyres in the unrepresentative daytime conditions.
Williams was once more slowest, with Alexander Albon 17th and 2.3s off the ultimate pace.
Saturday’s qualifying session is scheduled for 18:00 local time
[motorsport_result id='83195']
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