Here comes the recovery truck to take away the Alfa Romeo.

Bottas can only watch on as he waits for a lift back to the garage.

Red flagpublished at 15:23 Greenwich Mean Time 12 March 2022

15:23 GMT 12 March 2022

And now the red flag is out.

What has happened to Valtteri Bottas?

The Alfa Romeo driver comes a cropper out of Turn Four and has to roll off to a safe space.

Bottas is climbing out of the car as the team look puzzled as to what has happened.

We're under the lights now in Bahrain as we reach the closing stages of day three of testing.

Max Verstappen has switched to the hard tyres and has clocked a 1:37.871 for his last lap.

Image source, Getty Images

A thriller!

There was no separating the two Ferrari drivers but at the close of play for this pick, but Charles Leclerc has just taken it as to who you think will lift a title for the Scuderia first.

2,105 thumbs for Charles, 2,096 for Carlos.

Image source, .

George Russell and Mick Schumacher are tied on 55 laps each as Lando Norris, who has been in the car for what feels like a lifetime, narrowly avoids the Alpha Tauri of Yuki Tsunoda.

Floodlights are on now. Not long left.

The top pick between Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz for who has the potential to become a Ferrari world champion first is so close.

Go down to the 14:28 entry if you haven't submitted your thumb up.

I'll give you a little bit longer...

A bit of traffic in the form of Mick Schumacher and Yuki tsunoda is met by George Russell as he tries to improve on a 1:32.759.

The middle sector is the Mercedes driver's downfall and he stays in third place behind max Verstappen and leader Charles Leclerc.

Mick Schumacher is back out in the Haas, his earlier spin forgotten about, and hits a 1:33.151 to move up into fifth.

The German driver is 0.278secs quicker than his fellow former rookie Yuki Tsunoda in sixth.

Tom: Why you can't judge anything by lap times in F1 testing: fastest time: 1:32.645, 2021 pole time: 1:28.997.

Times are being cut down now by our afternoon drivers.

George Russell joins the top three with a 1:32.888 but is still 0.473secs away from Charles Leclerc's best time.

Yuki Tsunoda has reached 32 laps in the Alpha Tauri and slots into fifth place with a marker of 1:33.429.

Yellow medium tyres are the choice for Max Verstappen now as the Red Bull man works hard to find the two tenths he needs to return to the top of the afternoon session times.

However, it's a purple middle sector for Charles Leclerc. That Ferrari is looking good.

Update on the McLaren/Oscar Piastri story. Andrew Benson has the details...