» Mercedes power rules in Bahrain final practice

Lewis Hamilton has made it a clean sweep in the practice sessions at Bahrain, taking top spot once again from Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg by 0.1 seconds.

The pair was followed by Force India’s Sergio Pérez, the Williams’ of Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa, and McLaren’s Jenson Button, who ensured Mercedes power claimed the top six positions on the timesheets.

Vettel ended his session with a rare spin

But it wasn’t the speed of Mercedes that was the highlight of the session; reigning champion Sebastian Vettel made a rare unforced error when he put the power down too fast exiting Turn 2 and spun, beaching his RB10 in the gravel and ending his session early.

The incident was reminiscent of his 2011 season, where he would constantly go off in FP3 as he explored the limits of the car and track. The circumstances, however, have changed quite drastically since then, given his car doesn’t yet enjoy the frontrunning pace compared to his rivals. The German failed to complete a lap on the soft compound tyre which harmed his preparations for qualifying.

Force India seem to be the dark horse this weekend, after showing competitive lap times in both race and qualifying simulations. They will be right in the hunt for the final place on the podium providing Mercedes have a drama-free race.

Unfortunately for Lotus, they showed little to no signs of improvement, with Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado well down the timesheets. They were even bested by Kamui Kobayashi’s Caterham and Jules Bianchi’s Marussia by 0.4s and 0.1s respectively.

Again Toro Rosso proved they’re Q3 contenders come qualifying. Rookie driver Daniil Kvyat ended the session in ninth position, three places higher than his team-mate Jean-Éric Vergne, who ended up 12th.

2014 Bahrain Formula 1 Grand Prix – Free Practice 3 Results:

	Driver	Team / Entry	Time	Gap	Laps
1.	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes AMG Petronas F1W05	1:35.324		12
2.	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes AMG Petronas F1W05	1:35.439	+ 0.115	12
3.	Sergio Pérez	Force India Mercedes Mercedes VJM07	1:35.868	+ 0.544	10
4.	Valtteri Bottas	Williams Martini Racing Mercedes FW36	1:36.116	+ 0.792	10
5.	Felipe Massa	Williams Martini Racing Mercedes FW36	1:36.364	+ 1.040	8
6.	Jenson Button	McLaren Mercedes MP4-29	1:36.394	+ 1.070	8
7.	Fernando Alonso	Scuderia Ferrari F14T	1:36.454	+ 1.130	12
8.	Nico Hülkenberg	Force India Mercedes Mercedes VJM07	1:36.455	+ 1.131	11
9.	Daniil Kvyat	Scuderia Toro Rosso Renault STR9	1:36.680	+ 1.356	16
10.	Kimi Räikkönen	Scuderia Ferrari F14T	1:36.772	+ 1.448	13
11.	Kevin Magnussen	McLaren Mercedes MP4-29	1:36.822	+ 1.498	8
12.	Jean-Éric Vergne	Scuderia Toro Rosso Renault STR9	1:37.030	+ 1.706	11
13.	Daniel Ricciardo	Infiniti Red Bull Racing Renault RB10	1:37.119	+ 1.795	11
14.	Esteban Gutiérrez	Sauber F1 Team Ferrari C33	1:37.325	+ 2.001	18
15.	Adrian Sutil	Sauber F1 Team Ferrari C33	1:38.089	+ 2.765	24
16.	Kamui Kobayashi	Caterham F1 Team Renault CT05	1:38.400	+ 3.076	17
17.	Jules Bianchi	Marussia F1 Team Ferrari MR03	1:38.736	+ 3.412	15
18.	Pastor Maldonado	Lotus F1 Team Renault E22	1:38.880	+ 3.556	21
19.	Marcus Ericsson	Caterham F1 Team Renault CT05	1:38.971	+ 3.647	18
20.	Romain Grosjean	Lotus F1 Team Renault E22	1:39.208	+ 3.884	17
21.	Sebastian Vettel	Infiniti Red Bull Racing Renault RB10	1:39.225	+ 3.901	8
22.	Max Chilton	Marussia F1 Team Ferrari MR03	1:39.597	+ 4.273	14