Finishing the final practice in Bahrain the way he finished pre-season testing, Carlos Sainz topped the timesheets Friday afternoon ahead of countryman Fernando Alonso and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen. Sainz posted a 1:30.824s lap with under 10 minutes remaining on the soft compound tire as teams were slow to exit their garages during the warm and gusty session.
The uneventful session saw Thursday’s fastest driver – Lewis Hamilton – lead the way out of the garages during the session with others soon behind. Hamilton, in contrast to Thursday, would finish the session in 12th having run the day on used tires and higher fuel loads as the Mercedes team worked through it’s race-pace program.
Charles LeClerc ended 4th fastest on the day ahead of the McLaren duo of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri – in 5th and 7th while George Russell slotted in 6th between the pair. Sergio Perez ended his program in 8th position ahead of the Haas of Nico Hulkenburg – the man who was 19th on day one – and Lance Stroll rounded out the top 10.
Qualifying begins at 1900 local time as teams now prep for the first session of the year. You can see the full schedule below.
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FORMULA 1 GULF AIR BAHRAIN GRAND PRIX 2024 Schedule
| Date | Session | Time (Local Circuit) |
| Feb. 29th | Practice 1 | 14:30 – 15:30 |
| Practice 2 | 18:00 – 19:00 | |
| Mar. 1st | Practice 3 | 15:30 – 16:30 |
| Qualifying | 19:00 – 20:00 | |
| Mar. 2nd | Race | 18:00 |
Free Practice 3 Results:
| POS | NO | DRIVER | CAR | TIME | GAP | LAPS |
| 1 | 55 | Carlos Sainz | FERRARI | 1:30.824 | 18 | |
| 2 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES | 1:30.965 | 0.141s | 18 |
| 3 | 1 | Max Verstappen | RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT | 1:31.062 | 0.238s | 16 |
| 4 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | FERRARI | 1:31.094 | 0.270s | 17 |
| 5 | 4 | Lando Norris | MCLAREN MERCEDES | 1:31.118 | 0.294s | 12 |
| 6 | 63 | George Russell | MERCEDES | 1:31.190 | 0.366s | 12 |
| 7 | 81 | Oscar Piastri | MCLAREN MERCEDES | 1:31.210 | 0.386s | 13 |
| 8 | 11 | Sergio Perez | RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT | 1:31.248 | 0.424s | 17 |
| 9 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | HAAS FERRARI | 1:31.278 | 0.454s | 13 |
| 10 | 18 | Lance Stroll | ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES | 1:31.396 | 0.572s | 17 |
| 11 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | RB HONDA RBPT | 1:31.449 | 0.625s | 13 |
| 12 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | MERCEDES | 1:31.452 | 0.628s | 20 |
| 13 | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | RB HONDA RBPT | 1:31.631 | 0.807s | 14 |
| 14 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | HAAS FERRARI | 1:31.671 | 0.847s | 20 |
| 15 | 23 | Alexander Albon | WILLIAMS MERCEDES | 1:31.965 | 1.141s | 17 |
| 16 | 24 | Zhou Guanyu | KICK SAUBER FERRARI | 1:32.000 | 1.176s | 17 |
| 17 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | KICK SAUBER FERRARI | 1:32.096 | 1.272s | 16 |
| 18 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | ALPINE RENAULT | 1:32.124 | 1.300s | 11 |
| 19 | 2 | Logan Sargeant | WILLIAMS MERCEDES | 1:32.125 | 1.301s | 16 |
| 20 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | ALPINE RENAULT | 1:32.382 | 1.558s | 14 |
