Verstappen also has to let Alonso ahead of Bahrain in final training, De Vries last | GP Bahrain

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Mar 04, 2023 at 1:38 PMUpdate: 5 minutes ago

Max Verstappen again clocked the second fastest time in the last training session for the Bahrain Grand Prix on Saturday. Fernando Alonso was again the fastest with his Aston Martin, just like in the second free practice on Friday. Nyck de Vries has been driving his AlphaTauri lately.

Alonso was 0.005 seconds faster than Verstappen in his last attempt on new soft tires, with a time of 1.32.340. Sergio Pérez was third fastest in the second Red Bull. The Mexican conceded a tenth to Alonso.

Fourth fastest was Lewis Hamilton in the Mercedes, who was two tenths slower than Alonso. The fifth time was clocked by Charles Leclerc with his Ferrari. The Monegask was 0.284 slower than the best time in his final attempt.

Lance Stroll was seventh fastest in the second Aston Martin. Fernando Alonso’s Canadian team-mate is recovering from broken wrists and clearly struggled to keep his hands on the spinning wheel on Friday. Still, he was back in the car on Saturday, with a respectable lap time.

Verstappen first tries white belt

Verstappen first drove seven laps on the hard white tyre, which was not really to his liking. Only the Red Bulls tried the hard rubber. The Dutchman complained about little grip, and then spoke of a ‘shit tire’ over the on-board radio.

Nyck de Vries only used the soft tires, and did not get further than a 1.34.082. The 28-year-old Fries conceded 1.7 seconds to the top time, and was six tenths of a second slower than his AlphaTauri teammate Yuki Tsunoda.

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Circumstances not representative

With an outside temperature of 28 degrees and a track temperature of 40 degrees, the conditions in the third free practice were not really representative anyway. Both qualifying and the race are both run locally in the dark, in cooler air and on cooler asphalt.

Qualifying is Saturday afternoon at 4 p.m. (Dutch time). The Bahrain Grand Prix starts at the same time on Sunday.

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