The third and final practice session at the scorching Bahrain International Circuit saw McLaren confirm their strong form. However, with track temperatures hitting 46°C and a warm wind blowing dust and leaves across the pit lane, conditions were far from ideal and it was obvious that drivers are already looking forward to qualifying.

After tyre overheating caused problems on Friday, Pirelli responded by lowering rear tyre pressures slightly. Still, grip remained a major challenge for many drivers, especially in the early stages of the session.

Activity started slowly, with only a few drivers heading out in the opening minutes. Lewis Hamilton posted an early benchmark, but it wasn’t long before McLaren took control. Lando Norris briefly held the top spot, despite a small mistake in Turn 1, but teammate Piastri soon beat his time comfortably. Max Verstappen tried to challenge them but had to abandon his lap due to an error.

Nico Hulkenberg brought out a short Virtual Safety Car period midway through the session when his car stopped on track. He told his team that the car had gone into anti-stall mode on its own and couldn’t be restarted. Marshals pushed him to safety, and the session resumed shortly after.

There were more problems for others. Charles Leclerc lost his left-side mirror and had to return to the pits, while George Russell spun completely at Turn 10, complaining about extremely low grip. Esteban Ocon also reported bouncing in his car.

As the track cooled slightly towards the end, all drivers switched to soft tyres for qualifying simulations. Verstappen briefly jumped to the top with a 1:33.0, but Piastri responded immediately with a stunning lap of 1:31.646 and ended the session first, with Norris 0.668 seconds behind in second.

Leclerc was third for Ferrari, more than eight tenths down. Mercedes drivers Russell and rookie Kimi Antonelli were fourth and fifth. Gasly slotted into sixth for Alpine, followed by Isack Hadjar. Verstappen could only manage eighth, ahead of Carlos Sainz in the Williams and Lewis Hamilton in the second Ferrari.