F1 Bahrain GP Live Updates - final practice and qualifying
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Albon also deserves a nod of admiration as he moved up to third place at the end of Q1. A solid recovery from his heavy FP2 crash yesterday, but he needs to repeat the feat in Q2 and Q3 to really make it count.
Stroll, who switched to the softs for his second Q1 run, jumped up to second place late in the session with a 1m28.679s. Given he pulled off a shock maiden pole last time out in Turkey, he's looking good in quali trim once again.
Checkered flag
Out in Q1: P16 Giovinazzi, P17 Raikkonen, P18 Magnussen, P19 Grosjean and P20 Latifi.
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Russell has done it again! The Williams driver is P14, ahead of Norris, who backed out of his final lap when he knew he was safe after Latifi failed to leap clear of the bottom five.
Plenty of improvements incoming, so Russell will need to wait and see where he ends up...
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Russell, the Q1 Houdini in 2020, gives himself a great chance of escaping again with a 1m29.294s to surge up into the top 10.
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It is already time for the final Q1 runs. Despite being almost two seconds clear of the drop zone, Hamilton is also coming out with fresh softs - guessing he won't need those during tomorrow's race.
Curiously, Stroll is on the mediums for his first run, with all other drivers on softs. Mediums had been expected to make an appearance in Q2 for those looking to start on the yellow-banded compound but it seems Stroll has gone early. He's currently P14 and only three-tenths off the drop.
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Hamilton is now fastest in Q1 so far with a 1m28.343s, with Bottas slotting into second place 0.424s off.
With all 20 drivers on-track the traffic around the final three corners is already building up. Deep breath for those on a timed effort charging through the drivers lining up to start their laps.
That has triggered a charge to pit exit and now all 20 drivers are on the track. The times are about to get busy.
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Verstappen, fastest driver in FP3 remember, puts in a 1m28.885s which is fairly solid compared to his 1m28.355s from the final practice session.
But even Russell doesn't complete a timed effort as he pits following an out and an in-lap. No matter, Verstappen is on an out-lap so we can fully focus on the Dutch driver.
Nobody else fancies it early on in Q1 so Russell has the Bahrain International Circuit all to himself. Lucky him.
Green flag
Q1 is go! Russell is out on the track immediately - he's keen.
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5 minutes until the start of Q1!
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Weather check: 20% chance of rain, so expect it to stay dry for qualifying. Air temperature is currently 26.7oC and track temperature is 28.4oC, but both of those will drop now the sun has set. Only problem is we don't have a moon graphic to replace the usual sun image...
Key to a super qualifying lap will be getting the preparation lap spot on. In practice there were plenty of very slow out-laps in order to get the soft tyres in peak condition for the timed effort, so expect a lot of jostling for position and slow cars in the final sector.
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Further back the midfield fight looks as tight as ever with McLaren and AlphaTauri showing a slight edge in quali trim in practice, but nobody will be counting out Racing Point or Renault from springing a surprise. Getting into Q3 will come down to thousandths of a second.
Does that mean qualifying will be predictable? Not quite, after Verstappen hit back at the Mercedes domination to top FP3 earlier, having seen Hamilton top both Friday sessions, so there is definitely a three-way fight for pole position.
Given the enormity of unknowns F1 drivers have faced over the last few rounds ahead of qualifying at Istanbul, Imola and Portimao, preparations for today's quali will feel much more normal. No new track to learn, no freezing cold nor soaking wet conditions to contend with.
Good afternoon! Bahrain. F1. Qualifying. Sound like a plan?
Time for a quick breather ahead of qualifying for the Bahrain GP which gets underway at 1400hrs GMT - that's 1700hrs local time.
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Mild concern for Mercedes in the closing minutes of the session, but the bigger worry looks like Verstappen topping FP3 from Hamilton and Bottas. Could the German manufacturer miss out on pole for the second straight race? We'll find out later this afternoon.
Hamilton has come to a halt at the end of pitlane right at the end of FP3, it looks like he missed getting out before the end of the session, so it means it is a long jog up pitlane for his mechanics to recover the car back to the garage.
Checkered flag
That's the hour of FP3 completed. Verstappen takes top spot from Hamilton and Bottas.
Into the closing minutes of FP3 and Hamilton's Mercedes is being closely looked at by his mechanics, while the FIA's Jo Bauer also keeping a watching brief.
Unintentional blocking looks set to be a factor in the final sector when we get to qualifying as drivers are having to go at a snail's pace to prepare the tyres before starting a timed lap, which is creating unwanted hazards for drivers on a fast lap around the final few turns.
In qualifying trim, McLaren and AlphaTauri lead the midfield contenders, with Sainz in fifth and Gasly in sixth.
Behind the front three, Albon is up to fourth place but again is six-tenths off his Red Bull team-mate. Pretty sure he'd take that position ahead of qualifying, mind.
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Verstappen duly goes fastest with a 1m28.355s - a quarter of a second quicker than Hamilton's earlier effort. That could make qualifying pretty interesting.
Verstappen is back out for his next qualifying sim run, fresh from his rear wing getting extra attention from the Red Bull mechanics following its wobbly moments earlier in the session.
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Hamilton, on brand new softs, is also picking up the pace in the sister Mercedes. The F1 world champion puts in a 1m28.618s to take top spot off his team-mate by just over a tenth of a second.
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Whatever was troubling Bottas earlier in FP3 looks to have been solved as he goes fastest with a stonking 1m28.721s - a whole eight-tenths of a second faster than Verstappen.
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Both Williams drivers are out of sync with the rest of the grid in terms of run programmes, while Bottas and Perez are also out on track still. The rest are back in the garages to digest the latest runs.
By: Jake Boxall-Legge
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