Scuderia Ferrari managed a ‘red wash’ of the Bahrain Formula 1 Grand Prix’s weekend’s three free practice sessions. Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel shared honours during Friday’s two sessions, and on Saturday afternoon it was the turn of the young pretender to beat the master.
Leclerc finished the one-hour session just over 0.169 seconds faster than Vettel, but more compelling was the advantage the red cars enjoyed over the rest of the field. As was the case on Friday, it was a case of ‘Ferrari first, daylight second’ with the team’s nearest rivals Mercedes a mammoth three-quarters of a second adrift.
Lewis Hamilton and teammate Valtteri Bottas both seemed to struggle with the handling of the Mercedes-AMG W10 chassis, finishing third- and fourth-fastest respectively.
Romain Grosjean showed an impressive turn of speed in the Haas Ferrari to claim fifth on the timesheets ahead of Friday’s surprise performer Nico Hülkenberg, who put his Renault into the top-six for the second session in a row after being fifth-quickest last night.
The German’s teammate Daniel Ricciardo was still not able to unlock the same pace from his new Renault RS19 chassis. The Australian finished a disappointing sixteenth-fastest, 0.7 seconds slower.
The Renault power under the papaya panels of Lando Norris’ McLaren also seemed to help the youngster into the top-ten once again. The Briton wound up the session seventh-fastest, two spots ahead of teammate Carlos Sainz Jr – the pair sandwiched the Honda-powered Red Bull RB15 of Max Verstappen.
| FORMULA 1 GULF AIR BAHRAIN GRAND PRIX 2019 – FREE PRACTICE SESSION 3 | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Driver | Team / Entry | Time | Gap | Laps | ||||
| 1. | Charles Leclerc |  |
 |
Scuderia Ferrari SF90 |  |
1:29.569 | 15 | |
| 2. | Sebastian Vettel |  |
|
Scuderia Ferrari SF90 | |
1:29.738 | + 0.169 | 16 |
| 3. | Lewis Hamilton |  |
 |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport W10 |  |
1:30.334 | + 0.765 | 10 |
| 4. | Valtteri Bottas |  |
|
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport W10 | |
1:30.389 | + 0.820 | 12 |
| 5. | Romain Grosjean |  |
 |
Haas F1 Team VF-19 | |
1:30.818 | + 1.249 | 14 |
| 6. | Nico Hülkenberg | |
 |
Renault F1 Team RS19 |  |
1:30.910 | + 1.341 | 12 |
| 7. | Lando Norris | |
 |
McLaren F1 Team MCL34 | |
1:30.955 | + 1.386 | 15 |
| 8. | Max Verstappen |  |
 |
Red Bull Racing RB15 |  |
1:30.959 | + 1.390 | 10 |
| 9. | Carlos Sainz Jr. |  |
|
McLaren F1 Team MCL34 | |
1:31.965 | + 1.396 | 14 |
| 10. | Daniil Kvyat |  |
 |
Scuderia Toro Rosso Honda STR14 | |
1:31.173 | + 1.604 | 17 |
| 11. | Kimi Räikkönen | |
 |
Alfa Romeo Racing C38 | |
1:31.333 | + 1.764 | 21 |
| 12. | Pierre Gasly | |
|
Red Bull Racing RB15 | |
1:31.392 | + 1.823 | 13 |
| 13. | Kevin Magnussen |  |
|
Haas F1 Team VF-19 | |
1:31.540 | + 1.971 | 13 |
| 14. | Lance Stroll |  |
 |
Racing Point F1 Team RP19 | |
1:31.618 | + 2.049 | 16 |
| 15. | Sergio Pérez |  |
|
Racing Point F1 Team RP19 | |
1:31.638 | + 2.069 | 9 |
| 16. | Daniel Ricciardo |  |
|
Renault F1 Team RS19 | |
1:31.643 | + 2.074 | 11 |
| 17. | Alexander Albon |  |
|
Scuderia Toro Rosso Honda STR14 | |
1:31.679 | + 2.110 | 17 |
| 18. | Antonio Giovinazzi |  |
|
Alfa Romeo Racing C38 | |
1:32.132 | + 2.563 | 21 |
| 19. | George Russell | |
 |
ROKiT Williams Racing FW42 | |
1:33.387 | + 3.818 | 14 |
| 20. | Robert Kubica |  |
|
ROKiT Williams Racing FW42 | |
1:33.525 | + 3.956 | 13 |
Image via Scuderia Ferrari
Richard Bailey
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