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Bahrain GP
F1 Bahrain GP Live Commentary and Updates - FP3 and Qualifying
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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.
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.
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.
Green flag
Here we go, FP3 is underway.
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/
Fasten your seatbelts everybody, three minutes left to go.
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?
Air temperature is a toasty 38.5-degrees, with track temps of 48.6-degrees.
In case you were wondering, the risk of rain for this session is 0%. But we probably didn't need to tell you that.
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/
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...
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.
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?
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.
By: James Newbold, Megan White, Haydn Cobb
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