Red Bull's Max Verstappen at Free Practice 3 but Mercedes much improved at Bahrain Grand Prix

Max Verstappen was fastest in Free Practice 3 at the Bahrain Grand Prix on Saturday. With qualification to come later in the day, this was the last chance for teams to test their setups before they were thrown into the first competitive action of the 2022 season.

Ad/> The Dutch world champion was the fastest in yesterday’s second session, and he continued his dominance from Friday — and 2021 — with a time of 1:32.544. Bahrain Grand PrixHamilton writes off Mercedes at Bahrain, Wolff praises Red Bull cars2 HOURS AGO He was, however, only a fraction a second behind Ferrari’s Monegasque driver Charles Leclerc, who trailed by 0.096s, and who earlier span his car on turn 11 after doing the same yesterday.

Vertsappens’ teammate Sergio Perez was third fastest, then came George Russell, Carlos Sainz and Lewis Hamilton, meaning the front six spaces were shared by the same three teams. It made for a much improved display for Mercedes, who had struggled with porpoising for much of the pre-season.

Hamilton writes off Mercedes at Bahrain, Wolff praises Red Bull cars F1 CEO Domenicali will talk to drivers snubbing Netflix series Drive to Survive Hamilton: Mercedes facing 'much, much bigger problems' this season However, Russell admitted during the session that he was, “Still not feeling massively comfortable with the car. So much understeer at low speed." /> Qualifying is still to come as teams compete for tomorrow’s running order for Sunday’s race.