Andrea Kimi Antonelli's Mercedes made a statement in final practice at Sepang on Saturday, the Italian driver clocking a 1:36.924 to edge Max Verstappen and Red Bull by nearly three tenths. After Mercedes' simulations went wildly off the mark on Friday, Saturday morning brought a shift in momentum for the Brackley crew. Antonelli and teammate George Russell were suddenly competitive again, with Russell posting 1:37.053 before most drivers switched to the softer Pirelli compounds.

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The Bahrain Grand Prix being held in Malaysia this year has thrown everything at the grid. The 2026 circuit has been a tire-eating nightmare, with lap times running over four seconds slower than Pirelli predicted. Debris littered the track throughout the session, forcing a red flag stoppage when Oliver Bearman picked up a piece on his front wing before it landed on the racing line. Most of the field came back out afterwards to chase improvements on the soft C4 tires.

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Not everyone found the softer rubber to their liking. Lewis Hamilton, racing for Ferrari, struggled massively with the soft tires and managed only 1:38.160, leaving the seven-time world champion frustrated heading into qualifying. The 41-year-old also had ongoing issues with his right-hand mirror, the same problem that had Ferrari copping a 10,000 euro fine on Friday for impeding Gabriel Bortoleto. Red Bull's Isack Hadjar radioed complaints about unpredictability through the corners, suggesting Max's team still has work to do before the main event.

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Charles Leclerc, Carlos Sainz, and Liam Lawson had their own dramas too. The stewards noted an incident between Sainz and Lawson through Turn 1 where the Racing Bulls rookie had the run but got pushed onto the kerb while recharging his battery, though no investigation followed. Leclerc had used the hard tires to set an early marker at 1:37.772 before the pace ramped up across the field, but Antonelli's late-session effort proved too quick to catch as FP3 wrapped.

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