"***ESPN Tv, - ~F1 Bahrain Grand Prix live stream Bahrain GP Online
Mercedes drivers Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton sent out a stark message to those that believed Ferrari could topple the German marque once again in Bahrain by finishing fastest in the second free practice session on Friday.

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However, Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel ensured that the fire had been lit underneath the Silver Arrows by topping FP1 and then going P3 and P4 in FP2, underpinning this form with a strong race pace.

All of this adds up to a fascinating fight between the two powerhouses during qualifying on Saturday evening and the race on Sunday, and both will be keen to enjoy a trouble-free final practice session before the sun goes down in Bahrain.

You can watch FP3 for the Bahrain Grand Prix live on Live Extra from 8am ET on Saturday. CLICK HERE to watch via live stream.

Friday was not without its problems for Ferrar, though. Sebastian Vettel required a new front wing after a problem on his car caused him to collide with Sergio Perez, and was fortunate to avoid a penalty. Kimi Raikkonen did however receive a reprimand for exiting the pit lane in a dangerous fashion following a red flag period.

There was worse news for McLaren, though, as Jenson Button suffered two on track stoppages on Friday. He did get out at the end of FP2 to complete 15 laps, and the Briton remained surprisingly positive about the team’s progress in Bahrain.

FP3 will see the teams complete their final checks ahead of qualifying, and should give us a good idea of the pecking order heading into the rest of the weekend.

Ferrari have shown stronger race pace than Mercedes in practice and the grand prix, which starts at 16:00 BST and is live across the BBC, could be decided on which team can make their tyres last best.

That was the decisive factor when Vettel beat Hamilton to take a surprise victory in the second race of the season in Malaysia three weeks ago.

"I feel great," said Hamilton. "I'm really grateful to have this beast underneath me to attack these corners."

"I was thinking too much about the race and I under-estimated Sebastian's speed," said Rosberg. "I took it easy in Q2 to save the race tyres, so I lacked the rhythm for Q3. That's where I went wrong today. Being third is not ideal."

Rosberg's failure to join his team-mate on the front row raises the possibility of Mercedes using him to help defend Hamilton's lead in the race, a strategy that team boss Toto Wolff has said might be used if the team were facing a strong challenge from Ferrari.

Wolff said before qualifying: "We had a solid gap last year which allowed us to keep the strategy always very neutral."