F1 Bahrain GP in Malaysia: Follow FP3 at Sepang with live timing

THAT'S IT FROM FP3

We'll be back for qualifying from 16:00 local. And as ever, here's your comprehensive report on the action from this morning/afternoon.

Colapinto, who faces a 15-place combined grid penalty, is currently three tenths faster than Alpine team-mate Gasly but four places ahead. P1 to P8 is separated by about a second right now, then Colapinto (P9) is 1.6s off the frontrunning pace. So a clear gap from the frontrunners to the midfield.

Further back, Arvid Lindblad has been doing a long run on a set of C4s but has just put on a new set and gone around in 1m38.084s, good for P10 as it stands.

Russell has improved to 1m36.912s but that's six tenths off his team-mate.

Hadjar briefly goes P1 with a 1m36.860s despite not setting a single purple sector. He's immediately usurped by Antonelli and Verstappen, though - to the tune of half a second in the Mercedes' case.

Hamilton also opening a push lap on new softs. A personal best through sector one as Antonelli goes purple in sector two...

Antonelli and Russell back out on new softs. Let's see if they can improve on 1m36.624s and 1m37.053s.

Leclerc also lapping on new C4s and setting personal bests through the first two sectors. Sector three starts with a couple of yellow mini-segments though... but it's good! 1m37.016s.

Gasly has just essayed a push lap on new C4s but with no improvement; he set a personal best through the second sector but the first and third were both down on his previous best.

1m38.811s for Stroll, good for P14 at the moment. Half a second off team-mate Alonso though...

Oh hello - Stroll is embarking on his first timed lap of the day! 

Personal bests through the first two sectors for Piastri. And the third. He improves to 1m37.366s but that's still not as quick as his team-mate's earlier time on the mediums.

Piastri also giving it the beans on new C4s.

Antonelli back out on the same set of C4s. But he hasn't surpassed his previous best.

Norris also out on C4s, but a new set, and he does a personal best through sector one... but the next two aren't. Looks like he backed out completely in the third sector.

Hadjar has a best so far of 1m37.494s, running exclusively on the same set of C3s. Currently garaged after a six-lap stint on them.

Besides his mirror woe - perhaps, like the Human League, he needs to call the Mirror Man – Hamilton is struggling to match team-mate Leclerc's pace. That Ferrari is sliding around all over the place on the C4s: 1m38.160s.

Norris and Piastri also back in the garage after putting three more laps on those C3s.

Hamilton in woe with his right-hand mirror again; he was slapped on the wrist and the team fined yesterday for impeding.

The Mercedes head straight back to the pits after those push laps.

Hadjar chafing over the radio about unpredictability around Turns 1 and 9.

So Antonelli goes top with a 1m36.924s, Russell 0.129s off. Verstappen goes P4 on 1m37.207s - on the C3s! Looks like he encountered Perez's Cadillac in the final sector.

Neither Mercedes is fastest through sector three, though, and Verstappen has now gone purple through S1.

But Antonelli is then purple through S2, three tenths faster through that sector than Russell.

Antonelli looks like he's on a push lap on softs - yes, purple through sector one, but that's immediately surpassed by Russell, who is also on a push lap on C4s.

Norris and Piastri picking up where they left off on those C3s.

Colapinto has been the busiest driver so far, notching up 10 laps over two stints (three/seven) on the same set of softs, with a fastest time of 1m39.417s.

Piastri had just headed back out on the same set of mediums after a short pit visit for an adjustment.

Well, that interrupted Leclerc's long run on those C2s. Just five laps in the tank.

Looks like Bearman's Haas shed part of its brake shrouding from the front-right corner.

There is a pleasing symmetry about this track, a proxy host for the Bahrain Grand Prix, having such an abrasive surface because the regular venue for that race also has a rough track.

We understand some pundits have been describing this as "ironic" when actually it's just a coincidence, Alanis.

There's still some debate over how well the C4 soft tyre will hold up over a race stint. What's been very noticeable over the previous sessions is how slowly the drivers run on their cool laps, such is the abrasiveness of the surface. That plays into the picture of the soft tyre being very much "one and done" in terms of how much it can be pushed.

Piastri goes P2 with 1m37.483s.

Gasly still fastest through the first sector, mark you, with his 1m38.719s lap.

Norris now fastest with a 1m37.161s on his first flier with those mediums.

And Leclerc sets the fastest lap so far, 1m37.772s, on those C2s.

Piastri also out on mediums.

Only Verstappen, Hadjar, Antonelli, Russell, Alonso and Hamilton yet to leave the pits but we observe Hadjar now getting into his car.

Norris leaving the pits on mediums amid something of an exodus. Everyone else, Leclerc excepted, on the softs.