Practice report
Formula 1 Bahrain GP
Bahrain GP: Verstappen leads Hamilton in final practice
Red Bull driver Max Verstappen set the pace in the final Formula 1 free practice session for the Bahrain Grand Prix.
Edd Straw
Edited: Apr 15, 2017, 1:34 PM
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Verstappen left it late to put in the fastest time of 1m32.194s using supersoft Pirellis and ended the session 0.110s ahead of the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton.
With the track temperature at the start of the session so high, most opted to hang back for potentially slightly cooler conditions that would be closer to those of the evening qualifying session.
At the halfway mark of the 60-minute session, Toro Rosso pairing Daniil Kvyat and Carlos Sainz held first and second place.
Bottas was set to knock Kvyat off top spot when he headed out on supersofts, but he locked up and ran off the circuit at the last corner, ruining his lap.
Instead, Felipe Massa put his Williams fastest with a 1m32.801s, only to be relegated to second by soft-shod Verstappen.
Romain Grosjean then lost the rear of his Haas through Turn 4, spinning into the barrier and losing his nose.
The session was red-flagged, but the delay was only five minutes as Grosjean recovered to the pits without assistance.
Shortly after the restart, Kimi Raikkonen went fastest with a 1m32.785s, despite running wide at the final corner, before being relegated to second by Bottas.
Sebastian Vettel was also out on supersofts, but his first lap was only good enough for fourth after he ran wide exiting Turn 7 before setting what was ultimately the fastest time of the session at his second attempt.
Red Bull held back for much of the session and completed few laps, but both Verstappen and teammate Daniel Ricciardo headed out again in the closing stages.
This allowed Verstappen to go fastest with two-and-a-half minutes remaining, albeit with Hamilton behind him on track and showing strong pace.
But Hamilton ran a little wide at the final corner and could not beat Verstappen despite showing good pace in the first two sectors.
Ricciardo was 0.615s slower than Verstappen’s pace, slotting into seventh place behind Vettel, Bottas, Raikkonen and Massa.
Nico Hulkenberg again showed well in the Renault, lapping 0.739s off the pace to take eighth ahead of Sainz and Kvyat.
Fernando Alonso was the faster of the McLaren’s in 12th, 1.550s off the pace and just six thousandths slower than Force India driver Sergio Perez, with Sauber returnee Pascal Wehrlein just behind him.
Grosjean did manage to return to the track after his crash, but ended up 18th and seven thousandths slower than teammate Kevin Magnussen.
PosDriverChassisEngineLapsTimeGap 1 
Max Verstappen Red Bull TAG 8 1'32.194 2 
Lewis Hamilton Mercedes Mercedes 10 1'32.304 0.110 3 
Sebastian Vettel Ferrari Ferrari 10 1'32.750 0.556 4 
Valtteri Bottas Mercedes Mercedes 13 1'32.754 0.560 5 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari Ferrari 9 1'32.785 0.591 6 
Felipe Massa Williams Mercedes 12 1'32.801 0.607 7 
Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull TAG 8 1'32.809 0.615 8 Nico Hulkenberg Renault Renault 9 1'32.933 0.739 9 
Carlos Sainz Jr. Toro Rosso Renault 18 1'33.604 1.410 10 
Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso Renault 11 1'33.744 1.550 11 
Sergio Perez Force India Mercedes 14 1'33.916 1.722 12 Fernando Alonso McLaren Honda 10 1'33.922 1.728 13 Pascal Wehrlein Sauber Ferrari 15 1'33.947 1.753 14 
Lance Stroll Williams Mercedes 15 1'33.965 1.771 15 
Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren Honda 15 1'34.027 1.833 16 
Esteban Ocon Force India Mercedes 17 1'34.064 1.870 17 
Kevin Magnussen Haas Ferrari 13 1'34.198 2.004 18 Romain Grosjean Haas Ferrari 14 1'34.205 2.011 19 
Marcus Ericsson Sauber Ferrari 15 1'34.268 2.074 20 Jolyon Palmer Renault Renault 11 1'34.417 2.223
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