Max Verstappen takes control of Bahrain’s last practice to seal a hat-trick before the first 2021 F1 qualifying battle

Max Verstappen fasted last session to complete a clean sweep of Bahraini practice; The Red Bull driver finishes seven tenths of a second ahead of Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes; Watch Qualifying live at 3pm on Sky Sports F1, with a pick-up from 2pm.

Max Verstappen appears to be the favorite pole of the Bahrain GP F1 2021 opening season after the Red Bull driver completed a dominant practice hat-trick on Saturday – with a big win over Mercedes.

Verstappen has been the fastest driver in any situation so far this weekend – and that was true again in baking end use as he continued to move and Red Bull with an impressive time to was about 0.7s faster than Lewis Hamilton, his closest opponent.

Valtteri Bottas struggled and was only fourth in the other Mercedes, who failed to top any practice session at the opening F1 weekend of the season for the first time since the title time streak began. their hybrid in 2014.

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With Sergio Perez in fifth place for Red Bull, it looks like it’s a Verstappen vs Hamilton fight for a pole – with the the first guarantee of the season live at 3pm on Sky Sports F1, with a pick-up from 2pm.

“I think we’re all wondering how that happened,” said Jenson Button at Sky F1

“Very impressive. One, because Max is 1.3 seconds ahead of Sergio Perez, his teammate who is not so slow.

“And, two, being seven tenths up on Lewis … I’m really looking forward to seeing if he can take that forward to deserve it.

“Mercedes will be quicker to qualify, when the conditions are colder, but Max is on it every time.”

0:44

Lando Norris overtakes his former teammate Carlos Sainz in P3 in Bahrain.

The midfield battle is difficult to predict after a session in somewhat unrepresentative conditions – although AlphaTauri goes into high qualification after Pierre Gasly placed third.

Ferrari, despite Charles Leclerc’s impetus, were also caught by sixth-placed Carlos Sainz, and Alfa Romeo and Alpine – for the first time this weekend – made it into the top-10 through Kimi Raikkonen and Esteban Ocon respectively.

0:54

Charles Leclerc struggles to hold on and spin out at turn 2.

After their attractive pace on Friday, McLaren did not have a low final approach as Daniel Ricciardo and Lando Norris set just 10th and 16th – although the Woking team will be confident about Q3 that the bullet will come.

That could be a stretch for former world champions Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso, who only had 14 and 15 in their new P3 Aston Martin and Alpine cars.