The Bahrain Grand Prix victor used his last lap in the dying moments of the hour-long FP3 session to bolt to a 1m29.735s and snatch top spot away from the defending champion.
Leclerc nicked the spoils by just 0.033s as Perez was only another six hundredths further back as preparations continued for a race that will now go ahead following the four-hour driver meeting on Friday night.
These crunch talks arrived after the Houthi rebels claimed responsibility for a missile attack on a nearby Aramco oil facility during FP1.
Keeping to form in 2022, it was the Alfa Romeos that wasted no time in hitting the track as Valtteri Bottas led teammate Zhou Guanyu out of the pits in FP3.
They were followed by the Haas of Kevin Magnussen, but it was a subdued opening quarter of an hour as most team plans involved installation out- and in-laps rather than a complete run.
That left the track vacant for the two Ferraris, who missed out on a combined 45 minutes of running in FP2 after both drivers…
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