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Formula 1
Bahrain GP
F1 Bahrain GP Live Commentary and Updates - FP3 and Qualifying
Saturday's Formula 1 action from the Bahrain International Circuit
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After the intense three-day pre-season test at the same track last week, the 2023 F1 season begins this weekend with the Bahrain GP.
Having missed the pre-season test due to a wrist injury, Lance Stroll is making his comeback for Aston Martin alongside Fernando Alonso, with the Spaniard going quickest on Friday.
Bahrain GP final practice begins at 11:30am GMT followed by qualifying which starts at 3:00pm GMT and the race takes place on Sunday at 3:00pm GMT.
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But Alonso goes quicker! He's just 0.005s faster! Are we really going to see an Alonso v Verstappen battle for pole?
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Normality is restored! Verstappen goes to the top with his first effort on the softs
Hamilton complains his rears are so hot already, not that it stopped him from going faster. Piastri, meanwhile, has gone fourth - two tenths faster than Norris. Impressive from the young Australian.
Right, 10 minutes to go - let's see who has the honour of topping the final practice session.
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And Hamilton goes fastest with a 1m32.555s! He's now three tenths faster than Stroll as Russell goes second as well.
Meanwhile, Hamilton has gone purple in the first sector as track temperatures have already fallen by two degrees since the start of this session.
But we're about to get another indication of where Aston sits compared to Red Bull as Verstappen has just ventured out on the softs.
Alonso's nose - well, his car's nose anyway - is now back on and we're about to see if he can reclaim top spot from his Aston team-mate Stroll.
That effort from Sargeant is two tenths faster than Albon in 11th, which is a very encouraging sign for the American rookie.
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On his second lap, Bottas moves up to seventh while Sargeant is now eighth for Williams!
Bottas isn't able to replicate the time of Zhou as he has a huge lock-up on his Alfa and he's now lost his chance to use the best of the soft rubber.
Zhou has just gone third and so we've got Stroll, Alonso, Zhou and Hamilton as the top four - now that would make for an interesting grid, wouldn't it?!
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But we now have a new leader! Stroll usurps his illustrious team-mate with a 1m32.919s going two tenths faster.
Just as a reminder, Alonso continues to set the pace but remember the two Red Bulls have not used the soft tyres so there's no direct comparison between the two pacesetting teams yesterday.
Continuing pit-watch, work is also being done to the front of Alonso's car during this lull in proceedings.
The work continues down at Red Bull and there is potentially going to be a whole new sidepod added to Verstappen's car. Gripping stuff.
It's a very empty track now with just the two Ferraris, two Alfas and Hulkenberg's Haas still lapping.
Down at Red Bull, there's some work under way at the base of the sidepods - possibly related to Verstappen's earlier gripes.
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"Too much understeer," moans Gasly, as the Alpine driver is one of only seven currently pounding around the Sakhir track.
There's not much green on the timing screen now as some of the cars are on slightly longer runs.
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"I have no grip," says Verstappen. Not especially a surprise given he's on the hard rubber in these hot conditions.
So, at the midpoint of this session, we've got the two Haas cars at the bottom of the timesheets but they're two of only four drivers not to use the soft rubber.
Gasly becomes the final driver to set an initial time and it's eighth for the Frenchman, two tenths behind his French team-mate Ocon in the French Alpine car.
But, let's just remind ourselves, this session is in entirely unrepresentative conditions for qualifying and the race, so these times are pretty meaningless.
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We've now got a Williams up to eighth as Albon sets a decent time on the softs.
Hamilton's team-mate Russell has a wide moment there as he tries to pass a slower Ferrari, but it doesn't cost him too much - but enough to prevent him moving up from 13th.
Perez, meanwhile, is ninth, while Hamilton has improved his time but stays second.
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But here's a worrying sign! Verstappen goes fifth on the hard tyres and he's only half a second slower than Alonso!
Meanwhile, Piastri has gone seventh for McLaren, just ahead of Stroll, which seems a decent effort from the debutant.
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And, perhaps unsurprisingly, Alonso smashes Hamilton's time and goes almost four tenths quicker to go fastest! More encouraging signs from Aston.
Alonso now begins a flier and is a quarter of a second up in the first sector!
But it's the hard tyres they're using - so don't expect any headline-grabbing times from the Red Bulls on this run.
And now we get to see the Red Bulls for the first time today! Both Verstappen and Perez head out.
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Leclerc does improve but it's only fractionally and he stays third. Ocon, Bottas and Zhou have now moved into positions four to six.
Alonso and Piastri are the latest to head out and that leaves just five drivers still in the pits.
Leclerc heads back out on some soft tyres and is up on the first sector. Let's see if he can knock Hamilton off top spot. Remember we're still yet to see the Red Bulls.
Stroll has also now set a time on the soft rubber and is fifth, six tenths off what Hamilton has managed. But the Aston wasn't looking perfect at Turn 1 as Stroll has to fight the wheel exiting the corner.
More cars join the contest now with the two Alfas and Ocon's Alpine the latest to head out.
Wow it is really close between the Mercs and Ferraris as Sainz now goes second with a 1m33.523s that is just 0.015s slower than Hamilton. It's just a shame this isn't the fight for pole.
Amid that small flurry of times, Norris has also improved to go fourth and is just two tenths slower than Russell in third. Not that we can read anything into these times.
By: Autosport Staff
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