2025 F1 Bahrain pre-season testing - Day 3 as it happened

That brings an end to our live coverage of F1 pre-season testing after three long days of track action from Bahrain. 

The next time we see F1 cars on track will be for FP1 in Melbourne ahead of the season-opening Australian Grand Prix on 16 March! 

Until then, keep it on Crash.net for all the best news and reaction. 

Just 10 minutes remain in pre-season testing! 

Will anybody go for a late glory run to grab the headlines on the final day?

Now it's Max Verstappen's turn to go for a little spin at Turn 1. The Red Bull driver was very deep into the corner before going for a full 360, again causing a brief yellow flag. 

A spin for Esteban Ocon down at Turn 1 results in a brief yellow flag, but the Haas driver is able to quickly correct himself and get back on his way. 

Oscar Piastri has just set a quick lap to go third for McLaren. 

The Australian becomes the third driver to dip into the 1m29 mark today with a 1m29.940s. 

That's 0.374s slower than Max Verstappen's benchmark. 

Sky Sports F1 pundit Karun Chandhok believes the Red Bull RB21 is not looking particularly strong at the moment. 

“That Red Bull does not look hooked up to me," Chandhok observed while watching an onboard lap following Max Verstappen. 

"That is a not a car that is connected. There is understeer on some parts and that creates some of the snap oversteer.”

Interestingly, down at Aston Martin, Fernando Alonso is getting ready to get back in the car. He drove this morning after Lance Stroll "wasn't feeling 100%" overnight. 

Stroll did manage to complete 34 laps this afternoon but has not been seen for around an hour and Aston Martin are now preparing the car for Alonso to step back in. 

"Following an initial session in the car today Lance subsequently felt unwell. Fernando will finish the test today," an Aston Martin spokesperson told Crash.net. 

That was fun! Oscar Piastri and Esteban Ocon just had a little wheel-to-wheel battle. 

Piastri blasted past Ocon's Haas under braking at Turn 1, but the McLaren driver may have been a little surprised to see the Frenchman come back alongside on the run up to Turn 4. 

Ocon briefly looked up the inside but thought better of it as the pair came quite close to making contact at the apex of the corner. 

When he spoke during the lunch break, Lewis Hamilton also said he was set to complete a race simulation this afternoon. So far, at least, the seven-time world champion is yet to do that. 

Hamilton's most recent runs have been short before returning to the pits. There's an hour and a half left on the clock so he will have to get into it soon if Ferrari does indeed want to carry this out. 

Speaking before he returned to the cockpit of his new Ferrari this afternoon, Lewis Hamilton said that after a difficult final few seasons with Mercedes, he currently has the “most positive feeling” he has had "for a long time" heading into the new campaign.

“I've learned that you really can't judge too much from the first outlook," the seven-time world champion said. "I definitely think in past years, particularly in the previous generation of car, it was much easier to know where you stood quite early on. 

"But I would say this is the most positive feeling that I've had in a long time. That’s all I can really say for now.”

We are into the final two hours of running for 2025 F1 pre-season testing in Bahrain.

The floodlights have just come on as the daylight begins to fade and we head into some night running. 

Max Verstappen, on Pirelli's C3 compound, has just jumped up to third with an improvement. The Dutchman posts a 1m30.143s on a lap which included setting a purple first sector. 

That was a much better lap from Verstappen, and the most hooked up the RB21 has looked for a while. 

Alex Albon has completed the most laps so far, logging 97 in his Williams. 

As one of two drivers having a full-day behind the wheel, that is not a huge surprise.

1. Albon - 97
2. Hadjar - 73 
3. Leclerc - 66
4. Antonelli - 61 
5. Doohan - 61 
6. Bearman - 59 
7. Verstappen - 58
8. Norris - 57