Verstappen tops final Sakhir GP practice

Max Verstappen turned the fastest lap in final practice for the Sakhir GP in Bahrain, with a 54.064s lap. Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas was two tenths back in second, with Pierre Gasly a brilliant third for AlphaTauri 0.363s back.

Esteban Ocon (Renault) and Lando Norris (McLaren) rounded out the top-5.

Plenty of laps on the board for everyone this evening – even Sebastian Vettel, who went for an early dinner after Ferrari detected an issue with his Power Unit. That has led to a change, which should be just about doable before qualifying kicks off in a couple of hours’ time.

3rd quick Pierre Gasly of France driving the (10) Scuderia AlphaTauri AT01 Honda and Max Verstappen of the Netherlands driving the (33) Aston Martin Red Bull Racing RB16. (Photo by Rudy Carezzevoli/Getty Images)

The pole looks set to be an epic fight between Bottas and Verstappen but do not count out Friday fast man George Russell. Only 7th in final practice, Russell is ‘Mr Saturday’ and has never been out-qualified by a teammate in his two seasons in F1. If that record continues today, we are definitely in for a treat.

Practice 3 Results.

POS	NO	DRIVER	CAR	TIME	GAP	LAPS
1	33	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing Honda	54.064	+0.000s	23
2	77	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	54.270	+0.206s	20
3	10	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri Honda	54.427	+0.363s	24
4	31	Esteban Ocon	Renault	54.453	+0.389s	21
5	4	Lando Norris	McLaren Renault	54.606	+0.542s	15
6	23	Alexander Albon	Red Bull Racing Honda	54.629	+0.565s	22
7	63	George Russell	Mercedes	54.664	+0.600s	20
8	11	Sergio Perez	Racing Point Mercedes	54.678	+0.614s	20
9	18	Lance Stroll	Racing Point Mercedes	54.693	+0.629s	18
10	55	Carlos Sainz	McLaren Renault	54.720	+0.656s	16
11	99	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo Racing Ferrari	54.845	+0.781s	20
12	26	Daniil Kvyat	AlphaTauri Honda	54.850	+0.786s	23
13	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	54.854	+0.790s	21
14	3	Daniel Ricciardo	Renault	54.857	+0.793s	15
15	5	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	54.858	+0.794s	17
16	7	Kimi Räikkönen	Alfa Romeo Racing Ferrari	55.171	+1.107s	20
17	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas Ferrari	55.347	+1.283s	19
18	6	Nicholas Latifi	Williams Mercedes	55.493	+1.429s	21
19	51	Pietro Fittipaldi	Haas Ferrari	55.666	+1.602s	21
20	89	Jack Aitken	Williams Mercedes	55.670	+1.606s	23