<p>SAKHIR, Bahrain — Max Verstappen clocked the fastest time in the final practice for the Bahrain Grand Prix to boost his chances of taking pole position later Saturday.</p>
<p>Verstappen was fastest in both of Friday’s practice sessions and even more impressive this time.</p>
<p>In hot conditions, he was .74 seconds quicker than Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton and 1 second ahead of Pierre Gasly’s AlphaTauri.</p>
<p>Hamilton’s Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas was fourth, nearly 1.3 seconds adrift of Verstappen, who has three career poles and 10 wins.</p>
<p>Qualifying takes place in the evening when conditions will be cooler as the sun sets on the Sakhir desert track.</p>
<p>Aston Martin driver Sebastian Vettel came back to the garage with about 20 minutes left in the session, telling his team some debris had hit his race helmet.</p>
<p>Verstappen is continuing his <a href="https://apnews.com/article/bahrain-sergio-perez-sergio-coronavirus-pandemic-lewis-hamilton-6ee9a7b4455cf91f85c338170c563806">form from pre-season testing </a> and last year’s <a href="https://apnews.com/article/sergio-lewis-hamilton-lando-norris-valtteri-bottas-alexander-albon-4524b57c1859a89fb83a359cedf03685">season-ending Abu Dhabi GP</a>, which he won.</p>
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