Verstappen tops final Bahrain GP practice

Max Verstappen broke Mercedes’ stranglehold atop the timesheets in the final practice for the Bahrain GP.

Verstappen’s lap of 1m28.355s was 0.263s faster than Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes and 0.366s over the 2nd Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas.

Alex Albon, who crashed heavily Friday recovered to go 4th quick 0.663s behind his teammate. Carlos Sainz Jr. rounded out the top-5 for McLaren with Lando Norris seventh in the second McLaren.

Daniil Kvyat was eighth for AlphaTauri, ahead of Racing Point pair of Lance Stroll and Sergio Perez.

The Ferrari drivers finished 13th and 15th, with Sebastian Vettel ahead of Charles Leclerc.

In qualifying trim, McLaren and AlphaTauri lead the midfield contenders, with Sainz in fifth and Pierre Gasly in sixth.

Practice 3 Results

POS	NO	DRIVER	CAR	TIME	GAP	LAPS
1	33	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing Honda	1:28.355	+0.000s	11
2	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:28.618	+0.263s	12
3	77	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	1:28.721	+0.366s	14
4	23	Alexander Albon	Red Bull Racing Honda	1:29.018	+0.663s	12
5	55	Carlos Sainz Jr.	McLaren Renault	1:29.455	+1.100s	12
6	10	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri Honda	1:29.472	+1.117s	16
7	4	Lando Norris	McLaren Renault	1:29.567	+1.212s	8
8	26	Daniil Kvyat	AlphaTauri Honda	1:29.585	+1.230s	17
9	18	Lance Stroll	Racing Point BWT Mercedes	1:29.660	+1.305s	13
10	11	Sergio Perez	Racing Point BWT Mercedes	1:29.672	+1.317s	12
11	3	Daniel Ricciardo	Renault	1:29.684	+1.329s	9
12	31	Esteban Ocon	Renault	1:29.691	+1.336s	11
13	5	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	1:29.859	+1.504s	15
14	99	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo Racing Ferrari	1:29.970	+1.615s	10
15	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	1:30.183	+1.828s	14
16	63	George Russell	Williams Mercedes	1:30.559	+2.204s	16
17	8	Romain Grosjean	Haas Ferrari	1:30.652	+2.297s	16
18	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas Ferrari	1:30.759	+2.404s	12
19	7	Kimi Räikkönen	Alfa Romeo Racing Ferrari	1:30.823	+2.468s	16
20	6	Nicholas Latifi	Williams Mercedes	1:30.917	+2.562s	19