Formula 1 pacesetters McLaren dominated final Bahrain Grand Prix practice on Saturday with Oscar Piastri showing impressive speed in leading Lando Norris one-two while Red Bull’s reigning champion Max Verstappen was only eighth.
Australian Piastri lapped the Sakhir circuit in a best time of 1:31.646 with championship leader Norris 0.668 seconds slower.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc ended up third, but a hefty 0.834 off Piastri’s pace, after losing his left wing mirror earlier in the session.
“I can’t believe how fast those McLarens are at the moment,” Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, who at one point was top, said over the radio.
Mercedes’ George Russell was fourth, 1.181 slower than Piastri, with rookie teammate Andrea Kimi Antonelli fifth and Gasly sixth in a session that was run in temperatures of 30 degrees celsius.
Saturday’s qualifying and Sunday’s race, which ends after dark and under floodlights, will be considerably cooler.
Norris leads Verstappen, last year’s winner at Sakhir from pole position who also won in Japan last weekend, by a single point in the standings going into the fourth round of the season.
Russell exclaimed at one point that “I’d probably go as far as saying that’s the least amount of grip I’ve ever had in an F1 car”.
French rookie Isack Hadjar was seventh fastest for Racing Bulls, Williams’ Carlos Sainz was ninth and Ferrari’s seven- times world champion Lewis Hamilton 10th.
Nico Hülkenberg’s Sauber stopped on track with 28 minutes remaining, the German reporting the car had gone into anti-stall and switched off.
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