Bahrain GP - Third practice
Gusty conditions this morning ensured that the 22 race drivers were treated to a sandy and dusty circuit for the final practice session ahead of qualifying. However, the times tumbled late in the 60-minute session as a clear line formed and it was Jenson Button who set the pace for Honda by the smallest of margins from Michael Schumacher.
The Honda driver recorded a best lap of 1:31.857 in the closing minutes of the practice session, pushing Schumacher down to second fastest just 0.011s adrift. Ferrari are clearly on the pace this weekend in Bahrain as illustrated by Felipe Massa who sat out most of the session only to move fastest on his first clean flying lap. A spin for Massa late in the session would deprive him of a shot at the fastest time in the closing seconds.

Fernando Alonso and Giancarlo Fisichella set the third and fourth best times and will almost certainly be a factor for the Pole later today while Jacques Villeneuve popped in a very solid lap to take sixth just behind Massa in his BMW Sauber.

Jarno Trulli found some pace in his Toyota to set the seventh fastest time with team-mate Ralf Schumacher two positions back.
Over at McLaren, Kimi Raikkonen managed the eighth best time between the two TF106’s while Juan Pablo Montoya was a distant 15th again.

Mark Webber was tenth best in his Williams Cosworth with Nico Rosberg six positions back. In between Christian Klien and David Coulthard took 11th and 14th for red Bull Ferrari while Rubens Barrichello and Nick Heidfeld were 12th and 13th for Honda and BMW Sauber respectively.

Christijan Albers and Tiago Monteiro were 17th and 18th for MF1 Toyota, just ahead of the Toro Rosso duo of Tonio Liuzzi and Scott Speed. It remains to be seen if Toro Rosso is showing their full V10-powered potential in this practice session. Speed ground to a halt right at the end of the session seemingly out of fuel. Takuma Sato and Yuji Ide brought up the rear for Super Aguri Honda.

Three practice sessions are now complete as we get ready for the all-new qualifying format which begins at 12.00 CET.

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