Sainz puts Ferrari on top as half a second covers top 10 in tight final practice · RaceFans

Carlos Sainz Jnr was the fastest driver in the final practice session before qualifying for the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix.

Ferrari’s ascendancy to the top of the times means the trio of sessions so far have been headed by three different drivers and teams.

All 20 drivers were covered by just over 1.5s from Sainz’s best time of a 1’30.824 to Pierre Gasly’s Alpine.

Fernando Alonso was the closest to Sainz’s best time, which was set in the final ten minutes of the session. Max Verstappen was third fastest for Red Bull after setting his quickest time of the session while running behind the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc, who ended the session fourth.

The McLarens of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri were split by George Russell in sixth, with Sergio Perez, Nico Hulkenberg and Lance Stroll completing the top ten.

Most of the field chose to run only on the soft compound tyres throughout the final hour of running before the first qualifying of the year. Only Red Bull opted to try out the hard compound early on, with Verstappen reporting they felt “terrible”.

There was not a single yellow flag incident across the hour’s running. Esteban Ocon completed the fewest laps in his Alpine with just 11 and was heard reporting of a vibration under braking with his new A524. Nonetheless he was the quickest of the two Alpine drivers, and the only one of the pair to out-pace a rival car.

After suggesting that Red Bull had not run their power units at full power on Thursday, Verstappen and team mate Perez both featured in the top six of the speed trap rankings, with the Haas cars of Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen quickest and both Mercedes and McLarens slowest.

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2024 Bahrain Grand Prix third practice result

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2024 Bahrain Grand Prix combined practice times