Sebastian Vettel topped final practice at the Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir ahead of Ferrari teammate Kimi Raikkonen.
Ferrari finally showed their true speed on the supersoft tyre, setting times almost half a second quicker than the Mercedes duo of Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton in third and fourth respectively.
Williams’ Valtteri Bottas was fifth fastest ahead of Haas’ Romain Grosjean and Red Bull’s Daniil Kvyat.
Esteban Gutierrez was an impressive eighth ahead of Felipe Massa, who was trialing a new front wing which arrived this morning. Daniel Ricciardo rounded out the top 10.
Jolyon Palmer only completed nine laps in the Renault RS16 after suffering a puncture late on whilst teammate Kevin Magnussen fared much better on his way to 12th. The Dane will be forced to start from the pitlane after failing to stop at the FIA scales in FP2.
McLaren’s Stoffel Vandoorne suffered an oil leak which disrupted his running. He ended FP3 in 14th, less than a tenth slower than teammate Jenson Button in 13th.
Qualifying in Bahrain gets underway at 1600 BST.
