Summary

  • Final practice under way

  • Qualifying at 09:00

  • Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia held at Sepang circuit near Kulala Lumpur

  • Race rescheduled from April because of Middle East unrest

  • Use the 'watch & listen' tab for BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra commentary

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Live Reporting

Tasnim Chowdhury

  1. Team radio - Hamilton to Ferrari

    Hamilton: "It felt like a pretty decent lap considering the tyres were... not great."

    Team engineer: "I agree."

  2. 'Expected more from McLaren'

    Sam Bird
    Former Formula E driver on 5 Sports Extra

    McLaren's British driver Lando Norris sits in his car in the pit laneGetty Images

    I expected a little bit more from McLaren. I went into this weekend thinking they would be strong, so to see them down in seventh and eighth - Lando Norris not being able to get the maximum out of the soft tyre - I have a little bit of a concern for them heading into qualifying, that they're not going to be able to extract the performance that we thought they'd bring to the table this weekend.

  3. chequered flag

    Chequered flag

    Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli is the fastest driver in final practice.

    Red Bull duo Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar make up the top three.

    George Russell is fourth with Ferrari's Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton behind him.

    Kimi AntonelliGetty Images

  4. Antonelli fastest

    ndrea Kimi Antonelli of Italy driving the (12) Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team W17 on track during practice ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Bahrain in Malaysia at Sepang CircuitGetty Images

    Red Bull's Isack Hadjar topped the leaderboard but not for long, Kimi Antonelli's Mercedes has gone fastest with a time of 1:36.302.

    Max Vertappen gets his Red Bull into second.

    Meanwhile. Lewis Hamilton's Ferrari has jumped up to sixth, just behind team-mate Charles Leclerc.

  5. Charles Leclerc steers his car during the third practice session ahead of the Formula One Bahrain Grand Prix in SepangGetty Images

    Ferrari's Charles Leclerc sets a lap time and gets his car into second, 0.092 seconds behind Kimi Antonelli.

    Rookie Arvid Lindblad also sets a lap time and goes eighth fastest in the Racing Bulls.

  6. Andrew Benson
    BBC F1 correspondent

    Do you know what I've noticed? We have not seen any onboard camera shots through Turns Five and Six - and I suspect that's not a mistake.

  7. Track temperature has dropped to 52C now.

    All 22 drivers have the red soft tyres bolted on for the final minutes of the session.

  8. 'Alonso surprisingly high'

    Andrew Benson
    BBC F1 correspondent

    McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen (C) of Finland, Ferreri's Rubens Barrichello (L) of Brazil and Renault's Fernando Alonso (R) of Spain pose for photographers on the podium after the race at the Malaysian Grand Prix in Sepang, 23 March 2003Getty Images

    Fernando Alonso is surprisingly high so far this weekend. I don't know whether we're just seeing Aston Martin running the car at a different spec with this track being not so power sensitive, like Baku and Monza, so they're genuinely going to be more competitive.

    It's a long time ago now, but this is the track where Alonso took his first pole position in 2003 in his second race for Renault. That was when he was really announcing himself as a future megastar, which is what he has been ever since.

  9. 10 minutes to go in final practice.

    Lance Stroll is out on track and about to set a lap time.

    He puts his Aston Martin 14th fastest.

    Team-mate Fernando Alonso is just outside the top 10, in 11th spot.

  10. No further investigation for Sainz and Lawson.

    The track is a little quiet now with just three drivers out on track at the moment - Lando Norris, Oscar Piastri and Pierre Gasly.

  11. Sam Bird
    Former Formula E driver on 5 Sports Extra

    Lewis Hamilton of Great Britain driving the (44) Scuderia Ferrari SF-26 on track during final practice ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Bahrain in Malaysia at Sepang CircuitGetty Images

    Fernando Alonso is looking very strong but Lewis Hamilton is out of position, I would say.

    He got traffic from Arvid Lindblad on his soft-tyre run. He then went for a second lap but didn't improve any of his sectors apart from the final one where he got traffic. So he finds himself 1.2 seconds down.

  12. The FIA have noted the incident between Liam Lawson and Carlos Sainz at Turn 1.

    The McLarens have been into the pits to put on a fresh set of the soft compounds.

    The temperature has risen to 33C and track temperature is a very hot 55C.

  13. Top 5

    1. Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes)

    2. George Russell (Mercedes)

    3. Lando Norris (McLaren)

    4. Max Verstappen (Red Bull)

    5. Oscar Piastri (McLaren)

  14. Team radio - Hamilton to Ferrari

    Hamilton: "Something is wrong with my right mirror. It's moved."

  15. From the live timings, it seems like Lance Stoll is the only driver to not set a lap time yet.

    There is just under 20 minutes to go.

  16. Team radio - Hadjar to Red Bull

    French driver Isack Hadjar looks on ahead of the Formula One Bahrain Grand Prix in SepangGetty Images

    "The car is so unpredictable in Turn 9, Turn 1. You don't know when the rear is going to step out."

  17. The C2 hard tyres, C3 medium tyres and C4 soft tyres have been selected for the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia.

    Everyone has the soft tyres bolted on apart from the McLarens and Red Bulls that are on the medium compound and Charles Leclerc still has the hard tyres bolted on.

  18. 'Mercedes and Verstappen looking strong'

    Sam Bird
    Former Formula E driver on 5 Sports Extra

    The Mercedes cars are looking fast, but Max Verstappen has just gone the best part of half a second faster than Lando Norris in sector one alone on a set of mediums.

    OK, it's a new set of mediums and the track is ramping up, but the two Mercedes are looking strong, as well as Verstappen, at this stage.

  19. Antonelli fastest

    Kimi Antonelli has completed a fast lap and tops the leaderboard. The Mercedes driver is on a time of 1:36.924.

    He is followed by team-mate George Russell in second.

    Isack Hadjar has been on the radio to say his Red Bull is unpredictable.

  20. Sam Bird
    Former Formula E driver on 5 Sports Extra

    We're halfway through the session and we've learnt... erm... nothing, really.