Leclerc beats Vettel as Ferrari maintains dominance

Full FP3 results from the Bahrain Grand Prix

Charles Leclerc has topped the final practice session ahead of the Bahrain Grand Prix as Ferrari cements its place at the front having rediscovered its pre-season testing pace.

Having dominated Friday practice at the Sakhir International Circuit, Leclerc regained top spot with a 1m 29.569s – three-tenths faster than Sebastian Vettel’s best effort from FP2 – with the four-time Formula 1 world champion unable to match his young teammate in the hotter daytime conditions in both FP1 and FP3.

Ferrari’s impressive pace left Mercedes trailing with Lewis Hamilton slotting into third place with a late lap but 0.765s slower than Leclerc’s leading effort. Australian Grand Prix race-winner Valtteri Bottas kept within one-tenth of his Mercedes teammate but looked helpless in reeling in the Ferrari pair ahead of tonight’s qualifying.

Romain Grosjean saw Haas continue to lead the midfield fight with fifth place in FP3 ahead of Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg and McLaren’s Lando Norris with the trio split by just over one-tenth of a second.

Red Bull Honda’s Max Verstappen ended FP3 in eighth place, 1.390s off Leclerc, having run a different practice programme to the bulk of the grid, while Carlos Sainz in the McLaren and Daniil Kvyat in the Toro Rosso Honda rounded out the top 10.

Kimi Raikkonen recovered from a steering wheel issue on his Alfa Romeo to climb to 11^th place ahead of Pierre Gasly, who continued to struggle to match teammate Verstappen, with Kevin Magnussen in 13^th place for Haas.

Lance Stroll led the Racing Point charge in 14^th place after teammate Sergio Perez suffered a right-rear tyre puncture late on.

Daniel Ricciardo was another to struggle in the hotter conditions adapting to Renault down in 16^th place but ahead of Alexander Albon (Toro Rosso) and Antonio Giovinazzi (Alfa Romeo).

Williams duo George Russell and Robert Kubica continued to round out the F1 field considerably off the pace.