Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsRace weekend

Ferrari hits back to lead Mercedes in FP3

Ferrari hit back to set the fastest time of FP3 and ignite hopes of a qualifying battle at the Bahrain Grand Prix.

Mercedes had been fastest throughout Friday by more than a second over the rest of the field, but supersoft tyre runs towards the end of final practice saw Sebastian Vettel set the pace with a 1:31.683. Vettel was just 0.04s clear of team-mate Kimi Raikkonen, while Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton were more than 0.4s adrift.

Valtteri Bottas was fifth fastest for Williams ahead of the surprise of the session as Romain Grosjean was sixth for Haas and team-mate Esteban Gutierrez eighth.

While the quicker times from Ferrari are encouraging in terms of hoping for a close fight in qualifying, it should be noted that FP3 took place in the afternoon sun with much higher track temperatures than have been seen so far this weekend. Qualifying, on the other hand, will run under floodlights after dark.

Vettel was the busiest driver in the session having missed out on some running in FP2 when he stopped on track, completing 22 laps compared to 13 for Raikkonen. The pair were the only drivers to dip under 1m32s on Saturday, though Rosberg posted a 1:31.001 during FP2 on Friday.

Five teams had both drivers in the top ten - Ferrari, Mercedes, Williams, Haas and Red Bull - while half a second covered 7th to 16th. Both Toro Rosso and Force India opted not to set times on supersoft tyres in the final session, with Pascal Wehrlein also only using the soft tyres.

Stoffel Vandoorne recovered from an oil leak to set the 14th fastest time, impressively lapping just 0.04s slower than team-mate Jenson Button. The session ended with Jolyon Palmer - 20th ahead of the two Manor drivers - limping back to the pits with a left rear puncture.

AS IT HAPPENED: Bahrain Grand Prix FP3

Romain Grosjean's exclusive F1i column - Bahrain

RACE PREVIEW: Bahrain Grand Prix

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Pos	Driver	Team	Time	Laps
01	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	1:31.683	22
02	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	1:31.723	13
03	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1:32.104	18
04	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:32.160	14
05	Valtteri Bottas	Williams	1:32.675	18
06	Romain Grosjean	Haas	1:33.082	14
07	Daniil Kvyat	Red Bull	1:33.113	10
08	Esteban Gutierrez	Haas	1:33.337	14
09	Felipe Massa	Williams	1:33.363	18
10	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull	1:33.519	20
11	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber	1:33.569	16
12	Kevin Magnussen	Renault	1:33.617	9
13	Jenson Button	McLaren	1:33.704	12
14	Stoffel Vandoorne	McLaren	1:33.744	11
15	Max Verstappen	Toro Rosso	1:33.778	20
16	Carlos Sainz	Toro Rosso	1:34.003	20
17	Felipe Nasr	Sauber	1:34.013	15
18	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India	1:34.128	16
19	Sergio Perez	Force India	1:34.281	15
20	Jolyon Palmer	Renault	1:34.424	9
21	Rio Haryanto	Manor	1:35.546	15
22	Pascal Wehrlein	Manor	1:35.724	16

Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.