Verstappen edges Leclerc in final practice in Bahrain

Max Verstappen remained at the top of the field in the final practice session ahead of this evening's qualifying for the Bahrain GP, the Red Bull driver edging Ferrari's Charles Leclerc by just 0.096s.

The pair led Sergio Perez while Mercedes' Georeg Russel was once again fourth fastest, with Carlos Sainz and Lewis Hamilton closing out the top six.

• 2022 Bahrain Grand Prix Free Practice 3 - Results

A healthy contingent of Verstappen fans in the grandstands at Sakhir on Saturday was seen as a harbinger for things to come in the final practice session ahead of this evening's qualifying.

Haas' Kevin Magnussen, a top ten performer on Friday, was the first driver to head out onto a track basking in warm weather, with air temp at 22.3°C and track temp at 36.7°C.

The Dane was followed by a string of cars but installation laps were the norm in the opening minutes of the session. The warmer conditions, that weren't reflective of this evening's qualifying environment, enticed few to force the issue and burn through their rubber unnecessarily.

Almost 20 minutes into FP2, the timing screens displayed a familiar Hamilton-Bottas 1-2, but as times came down, Sainz want fastest but the Spaniard's time was immediately beaten by Leclerc who lowered the benchmark to 1m33.79s.

But a belated start by Verstappen saw the soft-shod Red Bull charger immediately smash the Ferrari driver's time, with a 1m33.035s.

In an effort to hang on to the Dutchman, Leclerc indulged in a big but fortunately inconsequential spin at Bahrain's long Turn 11.

But a 1m33.121s by Hamilton put the Mercedes driver just 0.086s behind Verstappen. The Brackley squad's slightly improved form was confirmed shortly after by Russell who jumped to the top with a 1m32.935s flyer.

However, Leclerc then punched in a 1m32.640s that put him 0.295s clear of Russell. But Verstappen was decidedly set on making the session his own and went 0.096s faster to power ahead once again.

The reigning world champion thus continued his forward march in Bahrain while Leclerc confirmed Ferrari's current runner-up spot in the pecking order.

Sergio Perez lined up third, ahead of Russell, Sainz and Hamilton.

Magnussen in P7 underscored once again Haas' pace, the Dane edging the Alfa pair of Bottas and Zhou who, along with Aston Martin's Lance Stroll rounded off the top ten.

McLaren confirmed that it has lost significant ground relative to its direct competitors, with Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo clocking in respectively P11 and P15.

The same could be said of Alpine, except that neither Fernando Alonso nor Esteban Ocon, who ended the session P16 and P17, indulged in a run on the soft tyre, implying that their times were not reflective.

AlphaTauri's Pierre Gasly was unable to replicate his Friday afternoon performance, the Frenchman setting the 13th quickest, but there was trouble from the outset for teammate Yuki Tsunoda who failed to put a single lap on the board in the session, his car succumbing to an apparent hydraulic issue as the Japanese driver rolled out onto the pitlane..

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