Max Verstappen was fastest in final practice ahead of this evening’s qualifying in Bahrain.
A late lap from Verstappen saw him displace Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel at the top of the timesheets by nearly half a second on the super-soft tyres.
Lewis Hamilton was on course to beat Verstappen’s benchmark after setting a purple first sector but was unable to pick up speed through the rest of the lap, ending the session a tenth off in second.
Vettel was half a second shy of Verstappen’s best time in third, ahead of Valtteri Bottas and Ferrari team-mate Kimi Raikkonen. Less than half a tenth of a second separated the trio.
2007 and 2008 Bahrain Grand Prix winner Felipe Massa continued to show strong pace in the Williams FW40, ending the session in sixth ahead of Daniel Ricciardo and Nico Hulkenberg, who also showed impressive speed once again.
There was a sizeable gap of seven-tenths of a second to the rest of the midfield as the two Toro Rossos rounded out the top 10.
Romain Grosjean’s crash at Turn 4 caused the only stoppage of FP3. The Frenchman oversteered on the exit, damaging the front of his Haas but he was able to drive back to the pits and complete a handful of laps as the session came to a close.
