F1 | Sakhir GP | FP3: Verstappen leads Bottas as Russell struggles
In the last practice session of Sakhir GP it was Max Verstappen who led the charge and put his Red Bull on top of the time-sheets as Bottas made a resurgence while George Russell struggled to put replicate his Friday’s result.
After making several mistakes in Friday’s FP1 and FP2 Mercedes’s driver Bottas was finally able to put his laps together and led the first half of FP3 by four tenth of a second from his new team-mate George Russell.
Verstappen who spent most of his FP3 on Hard tyres and just escaped a potential session ending crash after he had a spin at turn but avoided hitting wall or any other car. Red Bulls priority was to find the best setup for race on Sunday. Due to Bottas’s unperfect lap Verstappen was allowed to lead the timing sheet and end the FP3 on top with a time of 54.064s two tenths clear of the Finn.
It was Pierre Gasly who showed impressive pace under the night sky of Bahrain as he ended the session FP3 0.3s behind the leader.
Esteban Ocon who was the last of the drivers to set the time on soft made use of the perfect track condition to put his Renault on Forth spot ahead of Alexander Albon.
George Russell who impressed everyone on Friday was struggling to find the right lap time and ended the session seventh, ahead of Sergio Perez. Lance Stroll and Carlos Sainz rounded up the Top-10.
Sebastian Vettel’s session ended earlier as team found issues with his PU and changed it precautionarily ahead of Qualifying session. He eventually ended the session at P15 and his teammate another Ferrari was only able to clock thirteenth fastest time of the session
Kimi Raikkonen ended the session at P16 ahead of Kevin Magnussen, whereas Pietro Fittipali was sandwiched between the two Williams of Nicholas Latifi and Jack Aitken.
FP3 Timesheets:
