Kimi Antonelli put Mercedes on top of the timesheets during the third and final practice session at the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia, setting the pace ahead of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar. It was a stunning turnaround for the Silver Arrows after what the team described as one of their "toughest Fridays of the season", bouncing back with a much stronger start to Saturday.
Action began at 1230 local time in hot and humid conditions, with Cadillac’s Sergio Perez heading out first among the 10 current drivers who were on the grid when Formula 1 last raced at Sepang in 2017. Charles Leclerc bucked the early trend by heading out on the hard compound tyres, setting an early benchmark of 1m 37.772s before Lando Norris rolled out on mediums to go six tenths faster for McLaren. His team mate Oscar Piastri slotted into second, three tenths back.
The session hit a brief pause just before the halfway point when a red flag was thrown for track debris, which replays revealed came from Ollie Bearman’s Haas. Up to that point, several heavy hitters including the Mercedes pair, Verstappen, and Lewis Hamilton had yet to show their faces.
Once the green light returned, the track flooded. Antonelli bolted on the soft rubber and immediately went quickest with a 1m 36.924s. Max Verstappen dropped a blistering first sector but ultimately had to settle for fourth after hitting traffic, a frustration shared by Lewis Hamilton who was spotted waving his hand in annoyance behind the slower Racing Bulls machine of Arvid Lindblad.
As the clock ran down into the final 15 minutes, the McLaren drivers bolted on soft tyres, but Norris could only manage P3 while Piastri stayed fifth. Aston Martin made some noise as Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll climbed to 11th and 14th respectively, but the stage belonged to the frontrunners.
Antonelli lowered the benchmark even further to a blistering 1m 36.302s, staying comfortably in control as the hour closed out. Verstappen finished 0.278s adrift in second, with Hadjar half a second back in third. George Russell made it a strong showing for Mercedes in fourth, six tenths behind his team mate, followed by the Ferrari duo of Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton in fifth and sixth.
Norris and Piastri wound up seventh and eighth, with Franco Colapinto of Alpine and Lindblad rounding out the top 10. Gabriel Bortoleto just missed out for Audi in 11th, ahead of Alonso, Pierre Gasly, Esteban Ocon, Liam Lawson, and Nico Hulkenberg. Bearman settled for 17th, trailed by Carlos Sainz, Stroll, Alex Albon, Valtteri Bottas, and Perez.
Now, the entire paddock turns its eyes to Qualifying, which is scheduled to get underway at 1600 local time.
