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Formula 1
Bahrain GP
F1 Bahrain GP Live Commentary and Updates - FP3 and Qualifying
Live Standings
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Summary
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- Max Verstappen has qualified on pole for the Bahrain GP
- Hamilton and Bottas came second and third respectively for Mercedes
- The race starts at 16:00 BST on Sunday
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Leaderboard
1. Verstappen, Red Bull
2. Hamilton, Mercedes
3. Bottas, Mercedes
4. Leclerc, Ferrari
5. Gasly, AlphaTauri
6. Ricciardo, McLaren
7. Norris, McLaren
8. Sainz, Ferrari
9. Alonso, Alpine
10. Stroll, Aston Martin
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Welcome back to day two of our live coverage from the Bahrain Grand Prix. We've got just under 20 minutes until final practice commences, with qualifying set for 3pm GMT.
Breaking news
Before we delve into what to expect from today's sessions, why not check out what happened on Friday with a full analysis of all the data from Grand Prix editor ALEX KALINAUCKAS?
As qualifying and the race will be held much later in the day when temperatures are cooler, it's tricky to know how representative FP3 will be. Teams will be wary of basing set-ups on information gathered in this session, which could lead them down a blind alley.
With that in mind - plus all the usual caveats around fuel levels - this session will be an interesting one to see whether Mercedes has got on top of its balance worries from yesterday. With the wind conditions expected to be a bit higher, Lewis Hamilton didn't seem too hopeful last night...
In case you're a bit bemused about the constant references to rake at the moment, no - it hasn't got anything to do with Sideshow Bob.
Here's an explainer on why Mercedes' low-rake approach appears to be struggling more than the high-rake philosophy Red Bull has taken with the revised 2021 aerodynamic regulations:
https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/sat-am-why-f1s-2021-rules-hurt-low-rake-mercedes-more/5923863/
Here's an explainer on why Mercedes' low-rake approach appears to be struggling more than the high-rake philosophy Red Bull has taken with the revised 2021 aerodynamic regulations:
https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/sat-am-why-f1s-2021-rules-hurt-low-rake-mercedes-more/5923863/
In case you were wondering, the risk of rain for this session is 0%. But we probably didn't need to tell you that.
Air temperature is a toasty 38.5-degrees, with track temps of 48.6-degrees.
McLaren was very strong on the single lap pace yesterday, with Lando Norris now bolstered by Mercedes power second only to Max Verstappen. The Brit seemed rather downcast after the session though, saying it was "fairly obvious" that Mercedes will turn up the wick today and surpass it. Will his prediction be right?
Fasten your seatbelts everybody, three minutes left to go.
Breaking news
Footage on the world feed shows a bunch of team principals all together in discussion. They held a meeting earlier on to discuss plans for sprint races, which are set to be introduced to F1 this year. Here's what Christian Horner had to say on the matter yesterday: https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/horner-top-f1-teams-cant-afford-sprint-races-with-cost-cap/5935513/
Green flag
Here we go, FP3 is underway.
Yuki Tsunoda is the first man out of the pits in the AlphaTauri, looking to build on a strong Friday in which he outpaced team leader Pierre Gasly.
It's a set of soft tyres that are fitted to the Japanese rookie's steed. For the time being, he's the only man out there as the rest are biding their time.
After completing an install lap on what looked to be used tyres that already looked pretty grubby as he left the garage, Tsunoda comes back to the pits and the track is silent once again. So far, so FP3.
There's plenty of talk at the moment about how the new-for-2021 tyres are also compromising Mercedes, but Pirelli F1 boss Mario Isola was clear in saying that it would be "stupid" for the company not to introduce it's more robust rubber for this season.
More on that here: https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/pirelli-would-have-been-stupid-not-to-use-more-robust-2021-tyre/5935801/
More on that here: https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/pirelli-would-have-been-stupid-not-to-use-more-robust-2021-tyre/5935801/
Still precious little happening on track. We wonder how often the grass on the entry to Turn 1 gets watered?
Earlier on, the F2 race was somewhat more interesting as rookie Liam Lawson held off fellow Red Bull junior Jehan Daruvala to win the first of three races this weekend. Elsewhere Dan Ticktum was penalised for contact with Richard Verschoor, and poleman Theo Pourchaire was slowed by a mechanical problem. Full report here from F2 correspondent Tom Howard: https://www.autosport.com/formula2/news/lawson-fends-off-daruvala-for-maiden-f2-win-in-bahrain/5936011/
At last, we have a car on track and it's Valtteri Bottas in the Mercedes.
Will he actually go on to complete a flying lap? The tension is... palpable.
Bottas, it should be mentioned, has form to uphold. He's won the opening race of the year for the past two seasons - in Australia 2019 and Austria last year. Mercifully, he does indeed begin a flying lap on soft compound rubber.
The next man out is Alonso in the Alpine. Is he already pondering why he bothered coming back? The former Renault team looked somewhat at sea yesterday, but today is another day and all that.
Bottas's first flyer is aborted as he runs deep into Turn 1. Still no times on the board yet as we have completed almost a quarter of the session.
Bottas continues around to start another lap, so at least we have a time on the board. Somehow, I reckon Theo Pourchaire could push his broken F2 machine around the track quicker than his 2m17.890s though...
Now Bottas and Alonso are joined on-track by the Ferraris, who showed encouraging form yesterday that Leclerc admitted he was surprised by. Can it break free of the midfield and challenge the top two? It's probably a stretch.
Bottas's first gambit is a 1m33.37s, but it's immediately chalked off for track limits at Turn 4 - which he fell foul of on four consecutive laps in yesterday's FP2 session.
Bottas has seen enough and pits. Meanwhile, the Ferraris are on the hard compound, clearly testing how it degrades in hot temperatures as a potential option for the race tomorrow.
Stopwatch
Sainz uses the hard to post the first representative time of the session, a 1m33.931s, which is 1.3s faster than Alonso's first effort on the mediums.
Yellow flag
The yellow flags make a brief appearance as Leclerc has a spin at Turn 3, but the Ferrari driver has now gotten going again.
Meanwhile Hamilton takes top spot on the soft tyre, it's a 1m32.933s for the reigning champion, a fair way off what the drivers were doing last night in the cooler FP2 conditions.
Replays show Leclerc lost the car as he exited Turn 2 and was already heading backwards towards the Turn 3 right-hander. Fortunately though, unlike Raikkonen yesterday, he stops well short of the gravel and the tyre barriers.
Norris has aborted a lap after running too deep into the Turn 10 hairpin, as meanwhile Leclerc moves up to third ahead of Russell's Williams - which set a 1m34.768s on softs.
Stopwatch
Now Perez moves into second, but still over 0.8s behind Hamilton on a 1m33.764s.
*Bottas Turn 4 track limits klaxon*
Stopwatch
Verstappen has gone out on hards and - what do you know - he's quicker than Hamilton's early benchmark on the softs. Was that a statement lap from the Dutchman? It's a 1m32.617s, three tenths up on the seven-time champion.
As Bottas has yet another lap deleted for track limits at Turn 4 - he's going to need to kick that habit for qualifying - Norris shoots up to third on a 1m32.981s, fractionally behind Hamilton. Giovinazzi also moves up to fourth on softs, albeit almost a full second slower than Verstappen's hard tyre effort.
Interestingly, Hamilton still has the fastest first and third sectors, with Verstappen quickest through the twisty middle section.
Gasly and Tsunoda are running on softs, and the 2020 Italian GP winner duly catapults up the leaderboard to second on a 1m32.739s. Tsunoda was in the mid-35s on that last lap, which suggests he made an error somewhere.
Perez is having a run on the soft tyres and moves up to sixth, a 1m33.078s. Meanwhile, Mazepin has had a spin down at Turn 7 in the Haas.
By: James Newbold, Megan White, Haydn Cobb
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