Verstappen upholds Red Bull dominance over Mercedes in FP3

Max Verstappen topped the timesheets in free practice in Bahrain for the third time this weekend, confirming Red Bull's dominant position over Mercedes ahead of qualifying.

The Dutchman's run on the soft tyre cleared Lewis Hamilton's best time by 0.739s while an impressive run by AlpahTauri's Pierre Gasly yielded P3, just ahead of Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez.

• 2021 Bahrain Grand Prix Free Practice 3 - Results

Sakhir was basking in sweltering heat at the outset on Saturday, with the mercury pushing over 38°C at the start of FP3 and track temperatures climbing to 48°C, conditions that were very much unlike those that teams will encounter this evening in qualifying and on race day.

However, the session, while perhaps deemed irrelevant, was still a good opportunity for teams to fine-tune their machine's set-up.

With tyre wear concern under the blazing sun, drivers opted for a belated start, with Bottas and AlphaTauri's Yuki Tsunoda the first drivers to kick into gear.

As the track was gradually populated, Hamilton took top spot on the soft tyre, although with a time that over 2 seconds off the lap times recorded on Friday evening in FP2.

But the Briton was quickly overhauled by Verstappen, the Red Bull driver running his opening laps on the hard compound.

Thirty minutes into the session, Pierre Gasly split the two front-runners while Norris and Perez lined up fourth and fifth. But the AlphaTauri charger went one better, delivering a 1m32.321s on the soft tyre that was good for P1.

But Bottas, who had been lingering at the bottom of the time sheet, finally got going and sprung to the top after bolting on a set of softs. The Finn's position was short-lived however, with Hamilton shaving half a second off his teammate's best to take command with a 1m31.316s.

Meanwhile, with 15 minutes left on the clock, Ferrari's Carlos Sainz seized P3, the Spaniard consistently running in the session, like on Friday, ahead of Charles Leclerc.

A shiny set of soft tyres bolted onto Verstappen's Red Bull was an ominous sign, and the subsequent clean run did indeed yield the fastest lap of the day, the Dutchman clearing Hamilton by 0.739s.

The impressive effort was Verstappen's final as he maintained his dominant position at the head of the field.

Behind Hamilton in P2, Gasly remained among the top 3 while Bottas and Perez rounded off the top five. Sainz edged Alfa Romeo's Kimi Raikkonen for sixth, as Alpine's Esteban Ocon, Aston Martin's Lance Stroll and McLaren's Daniel Ricciardo completed the top ten.

Contary to yesterday, the session saw a low key performance from Lando Norris who clocked in P16 with Fernando Alonso just ahead in P15.

Can Mercedes or anyone else counter Verstappen's so far impressive forward march in Bahrain in qualifying this evening? Check back in two hours to find out.

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