Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas and Guanyu Zhou opened the final one-hour practice session at the Sakhir International Circuit, with Lewis Hamilton also out on track early as he continued to search for solutions for the Mercedes W13’s handling issues.
Hamilton was the first driver to set a half decent lap with a 1m34.256s on softs as drivers had to re-adjust to the windy daytime conditions, which are not entirely representative ahead of this evening’s qualifying session.
After 20 minutes times finally started to tumble thanks to Ferrari duo Carlos Sainz Jr and Charles Leclerc, split by the Red Bull of Sergio Perez, the leading trio all on soft tyres.
World champion Max Verstappen’s first effort – some 25 minutes into the session – was enough to vault to the top of the timesheets, his soft-shod 1m33.035s making him 0.762s quicker than Leclerc.
Leclerc’s bid to respond to Verstappen’s time ended in the Turn 11 gravel trap. The Monegasque driver reacted to oversteer on exit and as the…
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