Ferrari surge on final morning of Bahrain testing as Mercedes hit rare trouble

The Scuderia Ferrari driver set a fastest lap of 1:33.689, edging out Kimi Antonelli. The session unfolded at a relatively quiet pace, with cars trickling out of the pit lane.

Isack Hadjar in the Red Bull was the first to take the lead with a lap of 1:35.011, only for Leclerc to immediately usurp him with a 1:33.837 shortly afterwards.

While Leclerc continued to improve his time at the front of the park, the Aston Martin team received a major update from engine supplier Honda regarding the problems the team had continued to encounter during its pre-season testing run.

Oscar Piastri in the McLaren also surged to the front of the field, albeit with a time two-tenths off that of Leclerc.

The Cadillac team followed a similar pattern to the previous two days, with Sergio Perez joining the fray over 90 minutes into the session. The Mexican came out briefly for an installation lap before returning to the track to rack up some valuable mileage.

Kimi Antonelli briefly pushed Piastri down to third place on the timing sheet, with the Mercedes driver showing pace. However, Antonelli’s surge to the front was soon interrupted, with the Italian driver seeing his run end briefly due to an issue with his car.

What followed was a series of lock-ups from drivers, with Hadjar and Piastri on separate occasions locking the wheels of their cars.

Few changes were witnessed on the timing sheet as several teams opted to switch to their long-run programmes. Below are the full results of the final morning session

The morning session unfolded with few major moments, with the issue on Antonelli’s W17 standing as the only real highlight of the day so far.

In the final afternoon, teams are expected to focus on their last full race simulations, but above all on qualifying runs in conditions similar to those expected during April’s Grand Prix.