FP3 - Vettel leads Ferrari one-two
Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen finished one-two with Mercedes nearly half a second adrift in today’s final practice ahead of qualifying for the 2016 Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix.
Ferrari were a good surprise on this Saturday’s final practice, leaving behind the Silver Arrows - but can they really take the fight to Mercedes? Vettel’s P1 time today was a 1:31.683, while yesterday’s best from Rosberg was six tenths quicker. It’s game on.
Mercedes were the ones with most tire strategy usage, with one set of new softs, two set of used softs, one set of new supersofts and two set of used supersofts.
Valtteri Bottas was fifth for Williams, ahead of Haas F1’s Romain Grosjean in 6th place - Grosjean achieved a historic sixth back on Melbourne and would be extremely pleased if he were to make a repeat.
Red Bull had their boys seventh and tenth respectively, but yesterday’s sensations indicate they will most likely be higher up the grid and aiming for a podium challenge - or at the very least, 4th and 5th.
Jenson Button and McLaren weren’t in the top three this time around, and Stoffel Vandoorne faced some more troubles, spending most of FP3 sitting in the garage. They were 13th and 14th.
| Pos | Name | Time/Gap |
| 1 | Sebastian Vettel | 1:31.683 |
| 2 | Kimi Raikkonen | +0.040 |
| 3 | Nico Rosberg | +0.421 |
| 4 | Lewis Hamilton | +0.477 |
| 5 | Valtteri Bottas | +0.992 |
| 6 | Romain Grosjean | +1.399 |
| 7 | Daniil Kvyat | +1.430 |
| 8 | Esteban Gutierrez | +1.654 |
| 9 | Felipe Massa | +1.680 |
| 10 | Daniel Ricciardo | +1.836 |
