Sebastian Vettel put a Ferrari one-two at the top of the timesheets in last practice for the Bahrain Grand Prix on Saturday, ending the stranglehold of formerly dominant champs Mercedes.
Vettel lapped the Sakhir Circuit in a finest period of one minute 31.683 seconds, 0.040 faster than group mate Kimi Raikkonen on the supersoft tyres.
First time this season that any motorist from outside the Mercedes pairing of Nico Rosberg and triple world champ Lewis Hamilton had actually ended practice on top.
Hamilton was fastest in all 3 sessions in Australia 2 weeks earlier while championship frontrunner Rosberg led his team mate in Bahrain practices one and two on Friday.
Rosberg was third quickest in practice three, his time of 1:32.104 slower compared to Friday when he did 1:31.001, with Hamilton 4th.
Ferrari worked out in Bahrain in 2015, with Raikkonen finishing runner-up, and the talk before Sunday’s race was that the space with Mercedes was probably to narrow in the floodlit race if not qualifying.
The Italian group might still have a battle to declare their very first pole since Vettel in Singapore last September however practice at least threw up the possibility of seeing a red automobile back on the front row.
Mercedes started doing practice towards the end of the session, nevertheless, showing that their focus was currently somewhere else. Rosberg has won the last 4 races and Hamilton the three before that.
The Briton has likewise won the last two Bahrain Grands Prix.
Finland’s Valtteri Bottas was fifth quickest for Williams, who flew in a new nose over night from the factory in Britain, and Romain Grosjean continued to amaze with the new U.S.-owned Haas team in sixth.
The Frenchman completed sixth in Melbourne on the group’s launching.
Stoffel Vandoorne, taking place of the hurt Spaniard Fernando Alonso at McLaren, lapped 14th fastest and just 0.070 slower than 2009 world champion group mate Jenson Button in 13th.
