Bahrain-EL3: Verstappen at the forefront, Grosjean injured

Max Verstappen set the best time in the final free practice session for the Bahrain Grand Prix, beating Lewis Hamilton in the final minutes. Romain Grosjean was the victim of an exit from the track.

Published on 15/04/2017 à 15:15

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Bahrain-EL3: Verstappen at the forefront, Grosjean injured

In the heat of Bahrain, the teams did not rush to the Sakhir track from the start of the third and final driving session, before qualifying later in the day.

We had to wait until the second half of the session to see the Mercedes, Ferrari et Red Bull. First among the favorites, Valtteri Bottas seemed set to dispossess Felipe Massa (Williams) from the top of the timesheet, but the Finn missed his approach to the last turn, going wide and ruining his attempt.

If the former Williams driver finally climbs to the forefront in 1'32"750, 31 thousandths ahead of Kimi Räikkönen (Ferrari), his time is immediately beaten by Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari) for four thousandths, on super-soft tires. The German had missed his previous attempt by going wide at turn 7.

In the last three minutes, Max Verstappen (Red Bull) and Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) will however take advantage of their new sets of super-soft tires to take the first two positions, the Dutchman signing the best final time in 1’32″194, 0″110 ahead of Hamilton, who was however guilty of a small error in the last corner.

Vettel finished third, more than five tenths ahead of Bottas, Räikkönen and Massa, who finally finished sixth. Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull) follows the Brazilian and precedes Nico Hulkenberg (Renault) which places the first R.S.17 in 8th place, seven tenths behind Verstappen.

The Toro Rosso de Carlos Sainz and Daniil Kvyat (Toro Rosso) complete the top 10. Sergio Pérez (Force India) fails to reach the top 10 ahead of the first McLaren de Fernando Alonso. Esteban Ocon (Force India) signs the 16th time.

Romain Grosjean (Haas) finished his free practice in 18th position after complaining about the balance of his car during the session, notably requesting a change of front wing on his VF17.

The adventures for the Frenchman were not confined to these concerns, since the former Lotus driver made a mistake exiting turn n°4, damaging his car particularly at the front wing.

RED FLAG

And just a few moments later, the Frenchman puts his Haas into the wall #BahrainGP # FP3 pic.twitter.com/KLQomrp0sQ

— Formula 1 (@F1) April 15th