Max eighth in Bahrain FP3 dominated by McLaren

Published on 12 April 2025 by Florence Cobben

Max Verstappen came eighth in the Bahrain Grand Prix's third free practice. The session was dominated by McLaren, and especially driver Oscar Piastri, who led his teammate Lando Norris by a little over six-tenths.

FP3 begins relatively tame. For a long time it’s quiet on the hot asphalt track, as current circumstances are much warmer than the two remaining times the Formula 1 field will be in action. Qualifying and the race will both be at dusk, and so the track will have much lower temperatures.

The Ferrari, Alpine and Haas drivers have already noted their times when Max drives onto the track 18 minutes into the session. Max sets a purple first sector, but halfway through his first fast lap struggles with intense oversteer – he aborts his lap and returns to the pitbox. Lando Norris, in the meantime, drives his McLaren onto P1, until teammate Oscar PIastri improves on his time by half a second (1:33.324).

With just half an hour to go, Max returns to the track with soft tyres attached to his RB21. Not long after Max returns, the session falls to a standstill after Nico Hülkenberg’s Sauber is spotted stranded by the side of the road. Max stays on track, and when a green flag is waved a couple of minutes later, the Dutch Oracle Red Bull Racing-driver can finally set his first time. He goes second fastest (+0.234s).

Charles Leclerc's Ferrari suddenly loses it's left mirror, which flies off at high speed. With just 14 minutes left on the clock, Max again tries out a new set of soft Pirelli tyres. It’s now busy on track. Max sets a time of 1:33.027, but Piastri is faster than him by about 1.3 seconds (1:31.646). George Russell, Kimi Antonelli, Pierre Gasly and Isack Hadjar are faster than Max, who is now sixth. Norris shoots off track and doesn’t manage to improve his time.

Despite a less than perfect subsequent attempt, Norris’ next lap promotes him to second place, over six-tenths distance off his Australian teammate. Leclerc’s time is good for P3, and so Max finishes eighth in the third and final free practice in Bahrain.

Contest GP Bahrain: win a by Max Verstappen signed Red Bull Racing 2025 cap!

Results third free practice Bahrain: