Saudi Arabian GP: Verstappen outpaces Hamilton in final practice

FP3 was held on a warm afternoon, rendering it not entirely representative for Saturday night qualifying, which is set to run in cooler conditions.

Still, the fast-improving track conditions on the brand new street circuit made the one-hour training run a valuable exercise after many drivers reported problems getting the most out of Pirelli's softest tyre compound on Friday.

Mercedes duo Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas joined the track early in the session, the Finn topping the early running with a 1m30.394s on hards.

Bottas was briefly demoted by Kimi Raikkonen's Alfa Romeo, but then Hamilton took the lead with a 1m29.605s, which he followed up with an innocuous spin.

Hamilton and Bottas found more time on the hardest compound to extend their gap atop the leaderboard, Hamilton particularly impressing with a 1m28.314s, which at the time put him one second clear.

That gap was gradually closed by the likes of AlphaTauri's Pierre Gasly, McLaren's Lando Norris and Ferrari man Carlos Sainz, who all demoted Bottas to fifth.

Verstappen's first effort aboard the Red Bull put him outside the top five, but his second soft tyre effort was good for P2 three tenths behind title rival Hamilton.

Against a backdrop of the red sun setting over the Dead Sea, Verstappen set a new benchmark heading into the final half of the session, his 1m28.212s on softs beating Hamilton's time by one tenth.

Verstappen found another tenth to set a 1m28.105s as all runners switched to softs for the final 15 minutes.

AlphaTauri's Yuki Tsunoda took third with 10 minutes to go but was ultimately demoted by Sergio Perez in the second Red Bull.

Tsunoda settled for up fourth ahead of teammate Gasly and Bottas following another strong showing by AlphaTauri.

Charles Leclerc took seventh after his Ferrari team managed to repair his car after his hard FP2 smash, followed by stablemate Sainz.

Esteban Ocon took ninth ahead of Norris and Alpine teammate Fernando Alonso.

Alfa Romeo duo Antonio Giovinazzi and Raikkonen settled for 12th and 13th, with the second McLaren of Daniel Ricciardo down in 14th after a low-key session.

Lance Stroll was 15th for Aston Martin ahead of Williams' George Russell, with their respective teammates Sebastian Vettel and Nicholas Latifi close behind.

Haas pairing Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin propped up the timesheets.

The session progressed without major incidents, although Mazepin narrowly avoided running into the back of a cruising Hamilton through one of the circuit's many unsighted kinks.

It was one of several close encounters as traffic continued to be a problem, foreshadowing what could be an edgy qualifying session.

Cla	Driver		Chassis	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval
1	Max Verstappen		Red Bull	20	1'28.100
2	Lewis Hamilton		Mercedes	23	1'28.314	0.214	0.214
3	Sergio Perez		Red Bull	21	1'28.629	0.529	0.315
4	Yuki Tsunoda		AlphaTauri	20	1'28.641	0.541	0.012
5	Pierre Gasly		AlphaTauri	22	1'28.715	0.615	0.074
6	Valtteri Bottas		Mercedes	19	1'29.019	0.919	0.304
7	Charles Leclerc		Ferrari	22	1'29.101	1.001	0.082
8	Carlos Sainz Jr.		Ferrari	19	1'29.149	1.049	0.048
9	Esteban Ocon		Alpine	19	1'29.177	1.077	0.028
10	Lando Norris		McLaren	18	1'29.300	1.200	0.123
11	Fernando Alonso		Alpine	21	1'29.418	1.318	0.118
12	Antonio Giovinazzi		Alfa Romeo	20	1'29.590	1.490	0.172
13	Kimi Raikkonen		Alfa Romeo	24	1'29.689	1.589	0.099
14	Daniel Ricciardo		McLaren	19	1'29.717	1.617	0.028
15	Lance Stroll		Aston Martin	14	1'30.030	1.930	0.313
16	George Russell		Williams	17	1'30.034	1.934	0.004
17	Sebastian Vettel		Aston Martin	15	1'30.296	2.196	0.262
18	Nicholas Latifi		Williams	17	1'30.366	2.266	0.070
19	Mick Schumacher		Haas	20	1'30.933	2.833	0.567
20	Nikita Mazepin		Haas	23	1'30.979	2.879	0.046
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