The world champion edged out Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc as most of the field targeted performance runs late in the final session.
Verstappen completed what was the second fastest lap of the Bahrain test overall on the same set of tyres he had been running during a wild spin out of the final corner.
Mick Schumacher made a late charge to second overall, pushing Leclerc to third, during the two extra hours of running Haas had been permitted as part of its arrangement after missing the Thursday morning session due to freight delays.
Matt Kew and Luke Smith recount their experience of watching the cars over the three days in Bahrain. They talk about how the Mercedes looked like it was struggling to dial-in the handling, how Red Bull grabbed a last-minute glory run, and how Ferrari were not-so-quietly confident.
With the final day of pre-season testing complete, is porpoising still a thing? What happened to the McLaren brake ducts? Why did Lewis Hamilton say Mercedes are not in contention for a win in Bahrain? And if Mercedes turn up next weekend and put the cars fifth and sixth on the grid, would be we surprised? All of those questions are answered and more.
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