Fernando Alonso led the way in the final practice session of the Bahrain Grand Prix, as Aston Martin continued to impress, with the Spanish driver leading the way ahead of the Red Bulls of Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez.

With FP3 held in unrepresentative conditions to what the drivers will face later in qualifying and in Sunday’s race, the track was clear in the early stages of the session, but with 50 minutes to go the lap times began to pour in with Lewis Hamilton narrowly ahead of the Ferraris.

However, it was Alonso – who also led the way in FP2 – who shone brightest in the Bahrain heat, setting a time of 1m 32.340s on a qualifying style-run on the soft compound tyre – leading Verstappen by 0.005s, and his team mate Perez by 0.106s.

Hamilton and his Mercedes team mate George Russell – running different rear wings as the Silver Arrows continue to experiment with set-ups – finished fourth and sixth, respectively.