Max Verstappen: "It was tricky out there and balance wise we haven't quite found the optimum set-up, especially on the short runs. The long runs were definitely an improvement and looked quite good this evening but even there we can do better. The track is not the most exciting to drive and because it is such a short lap the radio is constantly open with traffic warnings about other cars. The second sector it is quite blind for a lot of corners and it isn't going to be easy when we need to cool the tyres before doing a second push lap and I think it could actually be quite dangerous. We never know exactly where we are on a Friday but Valtteri's lap was cancelled so it looks like we are a couple of tenths off Mercedes. We have a bit of work to do before qualifying and then we will focus on the race pace to ensure we are competitive as following closely behind other cars will be a challenge around here."

Alex Albon: "I'm enjoying this new track as it's very unique and some parts are quite challenging which makes it fun to get on top of. It was interesting out there today and there will be a lot to look at tonight in terms of what went well and what didn't. It felt as though we had more grip in the first session than compared with FP2 so we'll also have to look at that but overall the race pace looked pretty good which is positive but it's still early days. Finding a gap in qualifying tomorrow isn't going to be easy and because you have to drive so slowly to cool these tyres down the closing speeds are huge, so we'll have to be on our toes and I expect our engineers are going to be busy. As drivers we all have respect for each other in terms of getting out of the way but at the same time we all want our tyres to be in the best possible window for our own laps so I'm sure it will be a talking point in the drivers briefing later this evening."

Check out our Friday gallery from Bahrain, here.