Ferrari led the third free practice session in Bahrain ahead of Mercedes, with Vettel ahead of his teammate Räikkönen. Nico Rosberg completed the top 3.
The session didn’t have an ideal start for McLaren, since both cars were sent back to the box after an oil leak was detected. In the first half of the session, Räikkönen led the way with his Ferrari on softs. Bottas was 2nd with the supersofts ahead of both Mercedes on softs and the exact same time.
The Mclarens were eventually able to go on track and they did some laps on the medium tyre while everybody else waited for the end of the session to test the supersofts for qualifying. The Ferraris were fastest, with Vettel 0,04s ahead of Räikkönen. The Mercedes ended 0,4s behind Ferrari. The top 10 was completed by Bottas, Grosjean, Kvyat, Gutiérrez, Massa and Ricciardo. Neither the Toro Rosso nor the Force India drivers used the supersoft compound.
However, it is important to bear in mind that qualifying will take place during nighttime. Therefore, temperatures will be much lower than during Free Practice 3 and might benefit Mercedes rather than Ferrari.
| Pos. | Car | Driver | Team | Lap Time | |
| 1 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1:31,683 | |
| 2 | 7 | Kimi Räikkönen | Ferrari | 1:31,723 | + 0,040 |
| 3 | 6 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes AMG | 1:32,104 | + 0,421 |
| 4 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes AMG | 1:32,160 | + 0,477 |
| 5 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams | 1:32,675 | + 0,992 |
| 6 | 8 | Romain Grosjean | Haas F1 Team | 1:33,082 | + 1,399 |
| 7 | 26 | Daniil Kvyat | Red Bull Racing | 1:33,113 | + 1,430 |
| 8 | 21 | Esteban Gutiérrez | Haas F1 Team | 1:33,337 | + 1,654 |
| 9 | 19 | Felipe Massa | Williams | 1:33,363 | + 1,680 |
| 10 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull Racing | 1:33,519 | + 1,836 |
| 11 | 9 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber | 1:33,569 | + 1,886 |
| 12 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | Renault Sport F1 Team | 1:33,617 | + 1,934 |
| 13 | 22 | Jenson Button | McLaren | 1:33,704 | + 2,021 |
| 14 | 47 | Stoffel Vandoorne | McLaren | 1:33,744 | + 2,061 |
| 15 | 33 | Max Verstappen | Toro Rosso | 1:33,778 | + 2,095 |
| 16 | 55 | Carlos Sainz | Toro Rosso | 1:34,003 | + 2,320 |
| 17 | 12 | Felipe Nasr | Sauber | 1:34,013 | + 2,330 |
| 18 | 27 | Nico Hülkenberg | Force India | 1:34,128 | + 2,445 |
| 19 | 11 | Sergio Pérez | Force India | 1:34,281 | + 2,598 |
| 20 | 30 | Jolyon Palmer | Renault Sport F1 Team | 1:34,424 | + 2,741 |
| 21 | 88 | Rio Haryanto | Manor F1 Team | 1:35,546 | + 3,863 |
| 22 | 94 | Pascal Wehrlein | Manor F1 Team | 1:35,724 | + 4,041 |