Ferrari gives Mercedes some taste of its own sandbagging medicine in FP3
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| Sebastian Vettel turns it on |
Ferrari was sandbagging on Friday as we suspected. as Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen unleashed the Ferrari's full potential in FP3 by locking up the top two positions in final practice for the Bahrain GP at Sakhir.
With Mercedes dominating the opening day of action around the Bahrain International Circuit, Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton was expected dominate the entire weekend.
However, sandbagging on Friday, Ferrari forged ahead in final practice, with Raikkonen first coming through with a lap fourth tenths faster than Rosberg, before Vettel improved the benchmark by another 0.040secs to 1m 31.683secs.
The only other driver within a second of Vettel's top time, Valtteri Bottas was 'best of the rest' for Williams in fifth, ahead of Romain Grosjean in an impressive sixth. With Haas team-mate Esteban Gutierrez in eighth behind Daniil Kvyat, the American team is seemingly well placed for a stronger qualifying effort than it managed on its Australian debut.
1. Sebastian Vettel GER Ferrari-Ferrari 1m 31.683s
2. Kimi Raikkonen FIN Ferrari-Ferrari 1m 31.723s
3. Nico Rosberg GER Mercedes-Mercedes 1m 32.104s
4. Lewis Hamilton GBR Mercedes-Mercedes 1m 32.160s
5. Valtteri Bottas FIN Williams-Mercedes 1m 32.675s
6. Romain Grosjean FRA Haas-Ferrari 1m 33.082s
7. Daniil Kvyat RUS Red Bull-TAG Heuer 1m 33.113s
8. Esteban Gutierrez MEX Haas-Ferrari 1m 33.337s
9. Felipe Massa BRZ Williams-Mercedes 1m 33.363s
10 Daniel Ricciardo AUS Red Bull-TAG Heuer 1m 33.519s
11. Marcus Ericsson SWE Sauber-Ferrari 1m 33.569s
12. Kevin Magnussen DEN Renault-Renault 1m 33.617s
13. Jenson Button GBR McLaren-Honda 1m 33.704s
14. Stoffel Vandoorne BEL McLaren-Honda 1m 33.744s
15. Max Verstappen NED Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m 33.778s
16. Carlos Sainz Jr ESP Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m 34.003s
17. Felipe Nasr BRZ Sauber-Ferrari 1m 34.013s
18. Nico Hulkenberg GER Force India-Mercedes 1m 34.128s
19. Sergio Perez MEX Force India-Mercedes 1m 34.281s
20. Jolyon Palmer GBR Renault-Renault 1m 34.424s
21. Rio Haryanto INA MRT-Mercedes 1m 35.546s
22. Pascal Wehrlein GER MRT-Mercedes 1m 35.724s
Read more at http://www.crash.net/f1/results/228985/1/bahrain-grand-prix-free-practice-results-3.html#9RlqvCIh3CRmkWTK.99