F1 Bahrain GP Live Commentary and Updates - FP3 & Qualifying
Friday's action from the first round of the 2024 Formula 1 season.
Lewis Hamilton led a surprise Mercedes 1-2 at the end of practice on the opening day of track action, but many expect Red Bull to surge back to the front come qualifying.
FP3 begins at 12:30pm GMT (3:30pm local time) with qualifying at 4pm GMT (7pm local time).
The safe bet based on F1 testing form is of course Red Bull. That the RB20 has yet to top a session this weekend isn't necessarily a reason to discount anything (Daniel Ricciardo's RB was quickest in FP1). But Ferrari come into the weekend quietly confident too, with Charles Leclerc stating he had "no bad surprises, no good surprises either" in an FP2 session that his car was "just exactly as we expected the car to be".
Alonso was second in FP3 and third behind the two Mercedes in FP2. At the scene of his dramatic debut for Aston Martin last year that yielded a podium, will the Spaniard be able to once more throw a cat among the pigeons? And, in this tortured analogy, who will take the guise of said pigeon?
One team that won't want to see a repeat of the FP3 times from earlier is Alpine. Esteban Ocon was 18th and Pierre Gasly 20th, in a discouraging session for the Enstone team that took back-to-back Bahrain wins in 2005-06 with a certain Fernando Alonso.
Lewis Hamilton may have topped FP2, but Mercedes isn't getting carried away yet. That was the view of George Russell yesterday. But if the Silver Arrows can continue its Thursday form, then that will be a very positive sign to the engineers back at Brackley who have moved away from the very sidepod concept Red Bull has now adopted. Which team will be in the right?
Yesterday's FP2 session was held in much more representative conditions for qualifying than FP3 earlier, when Carlos Sainz edged Fernando Alonso to the top spot. In case you missed it, here's Jake Boxall-Legge's recap of what we learned on Thursday, as Mercedes said it surprised itself.
After three days of testing, and one day of official practice, this is where teams will finally start to show their hand. And in that regard, what Red Bull does will be eagerly anticipated. After all, it's thought that its real pace was hidden in practice yesterday with a conservative engine mode.
After all that, what are your predictions for Bahrain GP qualifying? Who will get pole and what will the grid look like? We'll take a breather to mull over predictions, and James Newbold will be back for the build-up ahead of qualifying. Until then, go well!
Practice starts are the final order of the session as the sun starts to dip in the Bahrain sky. Next time out it'll be a night sky covering the track for the first competitive running of 2024. How exciting!
Russell slots into fourth with a 1m31.190s, just 0.225s off Verstappen. But what of Ferrari? Neither Leclerc or Sainz has ventured out to join in with this mock quali.
Now it is the turn of Mercedes, as Hamilton goes seventh with 0.487s to find to match Verstappen's top time. Replays catch Hamilton going wide at Turn 4 so if this was qualifying he would have lost that lap for track limits.
Norris is also on a quick lap, as he sets the fastest middle sector of anyone, but he can only manage third overall with a 1m31.118s. Piastri follows his McLaren team-mate and goes fourth, one tenth of a second off.
Just like that, there is a Red Bull 1-2, which many believe will be a familiar sight this season. Elsewhere, Zhou improved to go sixth and Sargeant moved up to seventh.
A few more drivers are back on the track but nobody is looking to light up the timing screen just yet. Alonso's 1m31.582s remains the top time to beat.
Hamilton's Mercedes is undergoing a front brake adjustment in the garage, as most pause for breath in this session. Just Russell, Leclerc, Sainz, Magnussen and Piastri on the track.
The FIA bulletins have notified that Norris is already on to his second control electronics and battery for the season. Given we are only two-and-a-half practice sessions into a 24-race season, that probably isn't a good sign. More on that when we get it.
Norris still isn't happy with the set-up of his McLaren as after his first run he is back in the garage and there is major work going on with his front suspension.
Given their hard tyres compared to everyone else on softs, both Red Bulls are outside of the top 10 on the outright lap times. Verstappen is 11th with team-mate Perez in 12th.
Russell puts his Mercedes on top with a 1m31.821s - half a second quicker than Stroll's earlier lap - but still around 1.5s off the outright pace seen yesterday.
Verstappen is also out on the hard tyres. Every driver has just two set of hards for the weekend, so it is a huge clue to Red Bull's strategy for Saturday's race.
