Raikkonen keeps Ferrari ahead in final practice in Bahrain

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Kimi Raikkonen confirmed Ferrari's ambitions for pole position this evening, the Finn leading the third and final practice session in Bahrain.

The Finn concluded the session 0.525s ahead of the Red Bull duo of Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo, while a struggling Lewis Hamilton was fourth.

Bahrain Grand Prix - Free Practice 3 results

Pos	Driver	Team	Time	Gap	Laps
1	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	1:29.868s		15
2	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	1:30.393s	+ 0.525s	8
3	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull	1:30.452s	+ 0.584s	8
4	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:30.691s	+ 0.823s	14
5	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	1:30.719s	+ 0.851s	8
6	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	1:30.781s	+ 0.913s	16
7	Nico Hülkenberg	Renault	1:31.144s	+ 1.276s	11
8	Carlos Sainz	Renault	1:31.200s	+ 1.332s	12
9	Pierre Gasly	Toro Rosso	1:31.438s	+ 1.570s	18
10	Fernando Alonso	McLaren	1:31.445s	+ 1.577s	13
11	Brendon Hartley	Toro Rosso	1:31.460s	+ 1.592s	18
12	Romain Grosjean	Haas	1:31.513s	+ 1.645s	14
13	Esteban Ocon	Force India	1:31.554s	+ 1.686s	17
14	Sergio Pérez	Force India	1:31.564s	+ 1.696s	14
15	Kevin Magnussen	Haas	1:31.737s	+ 1.869s	14
16	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber	1:31.859s	+ 1.991s	17
17	Stoffel Vandoorne	McLaren	1:31.860s	+ 1.992s	14
18	Charles Leclerc	Sauber	1:32.047s	+ 2.179s	19
19	Sergey Sirotkin	Williams	1:32.463s	+ 2.595s	11
20	Lance Stroll	Williams	1:32.865s	+ 2.997s	12

Drivers took to the Sakhir track under hot and sunny conditions for a final opportunity to tweak and refine their set-up before this evening's crucial qualifying session.

Carlos Sainz was the first driver to post a relevant time with a 1m33.893s, which in turn woke everybody else up, and especially Valtteri Bottas who immediately shaved off three seconds from the Renault driver's time

Meanwhile, Sebastian Vettel was called back to the Ferrari garage for a loose deflector on the right hand side of his Ferrari.

Most drivers struggled to equal or beat their Friday times but Toro Rosso's Brendon Hartley was one man did improve on yesterday's performance, in part thanks to a few updated parts on his STR13 which had not been installed at the outset.

Twenty minutes from the end of the session, both Ferrari drivers upped the pace, with Kimi Raikkonen jumping to the top of the timesheet with a 1m29.868s set on a brand new set of supersoft rubber.

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In a bid to remain in contact with the Scuderia's contenders, Lewis Hamilton ran wide at the final corner but still managed to slot his Mercedes into P2, about 0.8s down on Raikkonen.

Back in the Silver Arrows garage, his crew informed him that he was losing time "mainly in the middle sector", but also that there was a "power difference" to Raikkonen, something Toto Wolff alluded to yesterday.

In the Ferrari camp, Vettel reported something "quite bad" around Turns 11 and 12 before being ordered to pit immediately, remaining in the Scuderia box for the remainder of the session.

Both Red Bull drivers moved up the order following good qualifying simulations, Verstappen placing himself P2, just ahead of Daniel Ricciardo.

The order was frozen for the final minutes of the session, Raikkonen holding his own at the front while the struggling pair of Hamilton and Vettel was left to ponder its fate two hours before this evening's thrilling qualifying session.

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Michael Delaney