P1racenews AI automatic summary:
F1 Bahrain GP: Sainz beats Alonso, Verstappen to top FP3
A flurry of final hot laps in the last 10 minutes shuffled the order, with Max Verstappen briefly topping the timesheets with a 1m31.062s before Fernando Alonso reclaimed the lead with a sub-1m31s lap. Carlos Sainz then outpaced Alonso with a 0.141s advantage, setting up an all-Spanish top two at the end of the session. Despite unrepresentative track conditions, teams used FP3 to fine-tune their setups before the crucial qualifying and race sessions. The track temperature of 34 degrees Celsius delayed track action initially, with Lewis Hamilton eventually setting the early benchmark on soft tires before others joined in, including McLaren’s Lando Norris challenging at the end. Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez opted for hard tire runs early on, then switched to softs to set headline times, with Alonso eventually ending the session on top with a 1m30.965s.
