Piastri fastest with McLaren on top in hot FP3 conditions

McLaren driver Oscar Piastri blew away the rest of the field in third practice for Formula 1’s Bahrain Grand Prix, with unrepresentative daytime conditions causing drivers to struggle for grip.

With 10 minutes to go in the final one-hour practice session, Piastri’s soft-tyre lap of 1m31.646s went unanswered by his rivals, with the Australian six tenths quicker than team-mate Lando Norris.

The scorching conditions weren’t particularly inviting ahead of a much cooler night-time qualifying session, with just Haas duo Esteban Ocon and Oliver Bearman circulating early on before being joined by the Ferraris and Alpines. Lewis Hamilton initially led the way with a leisurely 1m34.846s on used soft tyres, which were screaming under the hot conditions at the abrasive Sakhir circuit.

Drivers soon lamented the lack of grip compared to the much more conducive night-time conditions, with Max Verstappen calling the grip level “terrible” while George Russell felt “the least amount of grip I’ve ever had in an F1 car” after he spun his Mercedes.

McLaren’s championship leader Norris upped the ante after 20 minutes with a lap of 1m33.796s on softs, a full second clear of Hamilton, while Verstappen saw his lap aborted by going wide into Turn 11. Piastri embarked on his first hot lap a few minutes later, and despite a dose of understeer the Australian took half a second out of Norris’ time to go top with a 1m33.324s.

The subsequent salvo of one-lap runs briefly established Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso in the top three, followed by Hamilton and Charles Leclerc, but a better run for Verstappen saw the world champion split the two McLarens in second, 0.234s behind Piastri.

As track conditions mildly improved in the final quarter, Verstappen and then Gasly briefly went top before Piastri reclaimed his lead with a 1m31.646s, well over a second clear of the competition at that stage. Team-mate Norris went wide on his first attempt before grabbing second, 0.668s behind.

Leclerc, who had to spend time in the pits to replace the left mirror he lost under braking for the final corner, took third 0.834s adrift of Piastri, followed by Mercedes duo Russell and Andrea Kimi Antonelli.

Gasly was sixth for Alpine ahead of Racing Bulls rookie Isack Hadjar and a low-key Verstappen, with Williams driver Carlos Sainz and Ferrari’s Hamilton rounding out the top 10.

The only other incident of note occurred around the halfway mark, when the stranded Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg at Turn 8 caused a virtual safety car, the German reporting the car switched itself off.

F1 Bahrain GP – FP3 results