SAKHIR, Bahrain -- Max Verstappen set the fastest time in the final practice session ahead of qualifying for the Bahrain Grand Prix, beating Lewis Hamilton by 0.110s.
Verstappen's time, set in the afternoon heat, was 0.8s slower than the lap set by Sebastian Vettel in the qualifying-representative conditions of second practice on Friday evening, but still acted as further evidence of a step forward for Red Bull in Bahrain. Both Verstappen and Hamilton set their times on fresh super-soft compound tyres late in the session, while Sebastian Vettel, Valtteri Bottas and Kimi Raikkonen all used fresh super-softs 15 minutes earlier in the hour.
Hamilton was faster than Verstappen in the first and second sector, but lost 0.164s to the Red Bull driver in the final sector, where Verstappen was only bettered by Raikkonen. A mistake on his first flying lap and a slow middle sector on his second left Sebastian Vettel 0.556s off the pace in third, while Bottas struggled to hook up all three sectors on his quick lap. Vettel in third and Nico Hulkenberg in eighth were split by just 0.183s, underlining the how competitive qualifying could be and the impressive pace of Felipe Massa in the Williams and Hukenberg in the Renault.
The two Toro Rossos of Carlos Sainz and Daniil Kvyat rounded out the top ten ahead of Sergio Perez and Fernando Alonso.
On his first full weekend back in the car, Pascal Wehrlein hauled his Sauber up to 13th place ahead of Lance Stroll, who complained of a loose head rest on his Williams while attempting to set a fast lap. Stoffel Vandoorne, who had a new turbocharger and MGU-H fitted to his Honda power unit for FP3, was 15th fastest ahead of Esteban Ocon and Kevin Magnussen.
It was a tricky session for Haas after Grosjean spun at Turn 4 and lost his front wing against the inside barrier. Although the accident caused a red flag, Grosjean was able to get back in his car and drive back to the pits -- where he remained for the rest of the session.
Marcus Ericsson and Jolyon Palmer rounded out the timesheets for Sauber and Renault.