F1 Bahrain GP Live Updates - final practice and qualifying
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Albon, with a fresh chassis, is P5 in this session with a six-tenths deficit to team-mate Verstappen who is at the top of the times. That'll need shrinking come qualifying.
Bottas, currently only P10 on the times, is struggling with the handling of his Mercedes as he drifts out of both Turns 4 and 8 on a previous lap. It looks cool but it won't be helping his speed or his tyre life.
Verstappen shaves 0.017s off his best effort to go fractionally faster at the top of the times, but has an incredibly wobbly rear wing when his DRS flap is open.
Vettel is out of position on the current times after finding himself stuck behind Russell who appeared to be on a long run. The Ferrari driver is currently P19 having backed off during his last push lap.
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Verstappen notches up a 1m29.617s to take top spot, as Hamilton slots into second with a 1m29.986s.
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The flurry of fast laps sees Perez go top with a 1m30.159s ahead of Gasly, Albon and Norris. All drivers are now on track so it is getting busy.
Every driver is on the softs, so as well as the fast timed laps, a lot of slow preparation laps are going on. It appears to be confusing the timing screen as a couple of drivers pop up as 'stopped' momentarily before carrying on.
As the countdown clock reaches 40 minutes to go in FP3 there is a stampede towards pit exit. Every driver is now on track apart from Raikkonen, Ocon, Verstappen, Hamilton and Bottas.
With tyre degradation appearing to be very high, especially on the softs, and the limited tyre allocations per driver, it isn't too surprising to have minimal running at this point of the session. After all, there are no points awarded for most or fastest laps in practice.
Aside from Russell posting his first timed effort, a 1m31.456s to slot into P2, there isn't a great deal going on so far in this session. A lot of drivers are being strapped into their cars up and down pitlane but nobody else fancies it just yet.
Latifi duly slots into second place on the early times with his first effort of 1m31.752s, half a second off Raikkonen, as TV replays catch the Finn locking up at Turn 1 and running wide.
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Latifi, with a new power unit in his Williams, is the latest to join the FP3 party. Everyone else will be arriving fashionably late.
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But that's not holding back Raikkonen, who did hand his car over to Kubica for FP1 yesterday so is lacking running compared to the rest, and he provides the first timed lap of the session with a 1m31.247s.
Just the sole installation laps for the Haas pair, with Raikkonen heading out for Alfa Romeo next. The very leisurely start to FP3 is to be expected given the session is not that representative in terms of track conditions for the rest of the weekend.
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Nobody will be worrying about track limits at Turn 4 for the rest of the weekend - that's because the FIA has scrapped monitoring them at that corner after a change to the rules overnight.
Magnussen is the earliest riser as he heads out on to the track first, shortly followed by Haas team-mate Grosjean.
Green flag
The 60-minute FP3 session is underway, but nobody is scampering out just yet - in fact a number of cars are still missing their drivers.
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Williams confirmed its late night shift was due to a fuel system issue on Latifi’s power unit which required a complete change.
Following his heavy FP2 crash, Albon has had a Red Bull chassis change overnight while both AlphaTauri and Williams broke curfew, but no penalties are expected for those incidents.
Time for a quick recap on yesterday's practice action, and despite still topping both Friday sessions Mercedes had one eye focused on its 2021 preparations. Who can blame them given the team has wrapped up both titles already: 
Good morning (or afternoon depending on your location), who is ready for some more F1 action? You've come to the right place.
By: Jake Boxall-Legge
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