After almost a decade away, Formula 1 has returned to the Sepang International Circuit for the Bahrain Grand Prix, with the final practice session taking place ahead of Sunday’s race.
The weekend began on Friday with Max Verstappen setting the pace in FP1, before Charles Leclerc topped a much closer FP2. With just a few tenths separating the leading drivers, the final practice session offered another opportunity to assess the competitive order ahead of qualifying.
McLaren Make Early Progress
The opening stages of FP3 saw McLaren immediately establish a strong presence at the front of the field, with Lando Norris leading team-mate Oscar Piastri during the first half-hour.
Piastri eventually set a personal best but remained fifth, while Norris was unable to improve on his earlier lap and stayed third on the timing sheets. The McLaren pair continued to feature prominently as the session developed, building on the team’s strong pace from Friday.
The session was then interrupted by a red flag with 35 minutes remaining, after debris from Oliver Bearman’s Haas was left on the circuit at Turn 10. The stoppage brought running to a halt as marshals worked to clear the track.
Hamilton Faces Traffic
Lewis Hamilton endured a difficult start to his final practice session after being blocked by Arvid Lindblad on his first flying lap.
The Ferrari driver eventually put together a competitive lap to move into ninth, although he remained 1.236 seconds behind Kimi Antonelli at that stage of the session.
Leclerc also took a different approach to much of the field. The Ferrari driver remained on hard tyres and had yet to complete a run on the soft compound, but still found himself seventh on the timesheets as the session entered its closing stages.
Antonelli Returns to the Top
As the drivers switched their focus towards qualifying-style runs, the order at the front continued to change.
Antonelli returned to the top of the timing sheets with a 1:36.302, putting the Mercedes driver 0.278 seconds clear of Verstappen in second.
The result provided another indication of the pace at the front after Verstappen had led FP1 and Leclerc had topped FP2. With only a limited number of practice sessions available at a circuit that has not hosted Formula 1 since 2017, teams continued to gather valuable information ahead of qualifying.
The chequered flag was eventually waved to bring the final practice session to an end, with Antonelli finishing fastest ahead of Verstappen. Norris remained third, while Piastri finished fifth and Leclerc seventh.
With qualifying still to come, the return of Formula 1 to Sepang has already produced a closely contested weekend, setting the stage for an intriguing fight when the Malaysian Grand Prix gets underway on Sunday.