Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton posted the fast time for the third and final practice session ahead of this weekend’s Bahrain GP. Hamilton’s time of 1:34.599 was only just 0.069s faster than Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel.
The day time session though, will not be entirely indicative of what will happen during qualifying and the Bahrain GP race – both of which will take place under the floodlights of the Sakhir International Circuit.
Nico Rosberg finished third fastest and Kimi Raikkonen posted the fourth best time to see Mercedes and Ferrari heading up the top of the timesheets.
The Williams drivers, who were struggling with the tailwinds on the circuit during the session, finished fifth and sixth fastest with Valterri Bottas edging out his team mate Felipe Massa.
Almost a second back, Pastor Maldonado finished in seventh place for his Lotus team with Daniel Ricciardo the only Red Bull driver in the top 10 after his team mate, Daniil Kvyat spun out at Turn 4 and beached his Red Bull in the gravel trap bringing out a brief Red Flag period. The Red Bull mechanics got him back out with 5 minutes of the session remaining and he recovered to finish in 12th place.
Nico Hulkenberg placed his Force India in ninth position and Sauber rookie Felipe Nasr continued to impress, rounding out the Top 10.
Jenson Button somehow managed to post the 11th fastest time for McLaren despite complaining throughout the session about a lack of grip and traction around the circuit.
Marcus Ericsson finished ahead of Max Verstappen who posted the 14th fastest time ahead of Sergio Perez. Alonso managed to bring his McLaren home with the 16th fastest time – beating only Sainz Jr, Romain Grosjean and the two Manor F1 drivers, Will Stevens and Roberto Mehri.
With the Ferrari drivers clearly playing amongst the Mercedes crowd and the gap between Hamilton and Vettel so super close, the scene is set for a very interesting qualifying session under the floodlights. Mercedes still seem to be on top of things, but Ferrari are breathing fire down their necks!
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Lewis Hamilton Bahrain GP FP3 Photo Credit: Mercedes AMG F1
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