Having dominated the opening day at the Bahrain Grand Prix, McLaren continued to set the pace in Manama, with Oscar Piastri beating his team-mate Lando Norris in the third and final practice at Sakhir. F1Technical’s lead journalist Balazs Szabo reports on Free Practice 3.
The opening day of the Bahrain Grand Prix saw McLaren set the pace, with Lando Norris setting the benchmark in the first one-hour session before his team-mate Oscar Piastri topped the second practice.
While McLaren’s lead appeared to be sizeable on Friday, the Woking-based outfit managed to create an even bigger gap between themselves and their closest rivals in the third and final practice.
Amid another day of hot and sunny conditions in Sakhir – with air temperatures reaching 33 degrees Celsius – Piastri set an impressive benchmark of 1m 31.646s while his team.mate Norris was second, albeit 0.668s back.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton used a set pf used soft tyres in the first part of the final practice, but as the Monegasque bolted on a fresh set of red-walled rubber, he managed to set the third quickest lap, albeit over eight tenths of a second slower than what Piastri managed.
Having struggled for grip in the opening stages of the session, George Russell ended up fourth quickest, from his team-mate Andrea Kimi Antonelli.
Alpine continued to impress in Sakhir, with Pierre Gasly taking an eye-catching sixth while Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar, reigning champion Max Verstappen, Williams’ Carlos Sainz and Hamilton completed the top 10.
Esteban Ocon led Haas’ charge in P11, from Jack Doohan in the Alpine, Liam Lawson, Fernando Alonso and the Williams of Alex Albon.
After his impressive drive in Suzuka a week ago, Oliver Bearman claimed P16, leading the way from Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll and Bortoleto in P17 and P18, while Nico Hulkenberg was P19 after missing the majority of the session due to a technical failure. Having struggled for grip and balance under braking, Yuki Tsunoda brought up the rear in 20th place for Red Bull.
