Oscar Piastri set a fierce pace in his final practice at Bahrain Grampurpuri, leading the session ahead of McLaren teammate Rand Norris.
Piastri’s final flight lap in soft was pure despite the hot and ferocious situations burning in Sakil. The Australians gathered three purple sectors and set their benchmark at 1M31.646S. It was a little faster than his best time from FP2, where cool night conditions were far more conducive to performance.
The ambient temperature began at 91°F for final practice, and the track surface temperature rose to 111F. Conditions were not representative of post-sunset qualifying and racing sessions, lending limited importance to the results.
In the burning desert sun, the Bahrain circuit produced little grip. After looping the car at Turn 10, George Russell said it was the last grip he’d ever had in Formula 1.
Norris was caught in a slippery state midway through the first flying lap. I’m also grateful that the 11-turn mistake sailed him off the road, probably chasing his back. Britton re-waived the used soft wrap into the pit, but his deficit was nearly equal in three sectors.
Norris’ laps were slower than a top 1.6 from Friday night, roughly coinciding with the deficits most drivers experienced.
Charles Leclerc was the fastest non-McLaren driver on the field, but even his thick 0.834S deficit flattened the Ferrari driver with a second set of new soft tires, with a Ferrari driver set in the final six minutes of the time the truck began to cool down.
Mercedes teammates Russell and Andrea Kimi Antonelli matched closely in the fourth and fifth, at 1.1 and 1.2 seconds, respectively. Pierre Guthrie was the sixth surprise for Alpine, but even the French couldn’t help but wonder about the benefits of Piastri.
“I can’t believe how fast these McLarens are at this point,” he said, setting the fastest time 1.3 seconds slower than the major Australians before turning the radio into a radio.
Isack Hadjar was the fastest Red Bullback driver in his second session, with the Racing Bulls driver edging Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen for 0.004 seconds.
Carlos Signe puts engine brakes on the way to the ninth and 1.4 seconds from the pace, with Lewis Hamilton completing the top 10 with another 0.019s Ferrari.
Esteban Ocon complained early in the session that he couldn’t take turn 12 on full throttle due to his Haas car bouncing off. He made Jacques Dohan faster than 0.1 seconds from the pace.
Liam Lawson was 13th place behind Fernando Alonso, Alex Albon, Oliver Baerman, Lance Stroll and Gabriel Boltreto.
Nico Furkenberg set just seven laps before the car got on track at turn 8, and had to be retrieved by the former s under the cover of the virtual safety car.
Yuki Tsunoda had another difficult session on the way to the 20th. The Red Bull Racing driver spent the entire session softly and single runs using slow hard tire bars.
