Bahrain GP FP3 Results: What Happened in Free Practice 3

Your Sports Illustrated report of the Bahrain Grand Prix Free Practice 3.

The third and final Free Practice Session ahead of the 2023 Bahrain Grand Prix has ended with excitement ramping up for the first qualifying session of the season later today.

The first Free Practice Session of the Bahrain Grand Prix was an exciting one with Sergio Perez taking the top of the timesheet with a time of 1:32.758. This was followed by another interesting Free Practice Session with Fernando Alonso putting in the fastest lap with a time of 1:30.907 in the Aston Martin AMR23.

Standout Moments

Lando Norris was first onto the track in the McLaren with him, completing a timed lap before any other cars joined him. It seemed unhappy through the Bahrain corners, especially with a headwind through Turn 4 and a tailwind through 10. He began today's timesheet with a time of 1:34.63 on soft tyres.

Lewis Hamilton was the first to put down a solid flying lap which wasn't able to be beaten by early laps from the likes of Ferrari or Aston Martin's Lance Stroll. That was until Fernando Alonso set a lap time of 1:33.12, wiping the Brit off top spot by almost 4 tenths. 

Red Bull finally exited the pits on hard tyres, setting a lap time half a second off Fernando, with it expected that the difference between the softs and hard is around 8 tenths. A very strong start from the Milton Keynes squad.

As the track started to rubber up, Aston Martin maintained good performance, with Alonso still dominating the time sheets in front of Red Bull. Mercedes looked to be solid behind the Bulls but Ferrari, who were sat in the pits for the majority of the session, 

Conclusion

With the drivers now simulating qualifying, we really get to see a good idea of the performance of these teams. Red Bull is obviously strong, as are Ferrari and Mercedes who are lagging maybe behind these two teams. But Aston Martin are the surprise of the weekend with Alonso heading the timesheets for the majority of the session.

This is going to be an incredibly exciting qualifying session later today with four constructors in contention to bring home the first pole of the season. 

Bahrain FP3 Results

1. Alonso 1:32.340

2. Verstappen 1:32.345

3. Perez 1:32.446

4. Hamilton 1:32.555

5. Leclerc 1:32.624

6. Russell 1:32.731

7. Stroll 1:32.919

8. Sainz 1:32.945

9. Piastri 1:33.045

10. Gasly 1:33.064