In the last practise session in Bahrain, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen set the best lap, beating Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. But it was Mercedes that drew the attention, with George Russell and Lewis Hamilton setting fast laps in the W13.
Max Verstappen of Red Bull was the fastest driver in the last practise session before qualifying in Bahrain, edging Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc by less than a tenth of a second.
Mercedes, on the other hand, demonstrated they may be a contender going into the first qualifying session of the season following a difficult Friday.
After struggling for speed throughout the Bahrain testing and the first practise day of the weekend, both George Russell and Lewis Hamilton turned up some impressive lap times on the Soft tyre.
As they set their early times on the red-marked Soft Pirellis, Leclerc set the pace before Max Verstappen put in a time seven tenths of a second ahead of the Monegasque.
Mercedes join in the fight at the front
Hamilton returned to the racetrack with 20 minutes left and completed less than a tenth behind his 2021 championship rival, despite a visibly less bouncy Mercedes. Russell ran faster than everyone else a few moments later, clocking a 1:32.935 on the Softs and demoting Verstappen to second place.
Verstappen and Leclerc, meanwhile, who set the pace on Friday, were not done yet. Verstappen returned to the track for another run on the Soft tyres, posting a time of 1:32.640 to take the lead. On his first attempt, the Dutch driver made an error into Turn 1 and backed off, but he rallied and set a 1:32.544 to beat Leclerc by 0.096 seconds.
Sergio Perez’s late charge, after a Friday spent assessing various setups, emphasised Red Bull’s speed. With five minutes to go, he clocked a quarter-second faster than Verstappen and a tenth and a half faster than Russell.
Haas and Alfa Romeo impress
In the last practise session, the Haas and Alfa Romeos were competitive, with Kevin Magnussen slipping into seventh place in the last minutes, barely three tenths slower than Hamilton in sixth.
Valtteri Bottas continued his solid second practise performance by finishing seventh, just ahead of rookie teammate Guanyu Zhou.
Lance Stroll of Aston Martin finished tenth, 1.376 seconds behind the winner.
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