Welcome to live commentary from the Bahrain Grand Prix. It won't surprise you to hear its hot and sunny at the circuit.

We can expect some low-fuel laps during this session as the drivers make final set-up tweaks ahead of qualifying.

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News from Force India: "Only a couple of runs for Adrian Sutil this am - track conditions not ideal and the old F1 cars have dropped oil over the track as well..."

When they say "old F1 cars" they are reffering to the track parade of previous world champions in their title-winning cars.

Big names like Prost, Andretti and Stewart have all been on show.

Back in the modern era, Nico Rosberg was fastest yesterday but we have yet to see the true qualifying pace of any of the front runners.

Force India also looked sharp and could well be a surprise this weekend.

Kovalainen is going to put in a fast lap: "Everything ready for 3rd practice. Gonna check my weight with my race kit on before the session to make sure we are in quali trim."

Every kilo counts in F1.

Hopefully we'll see Chandhok this session after HRT worked flat-out over night.

Ferrari was also working hard: "After a long night of work in the garage, everything is ready for P3. It will be a very important session as we will have to prepare Qualifying."

Track temp: 42 C and rising. Air temp: 32 C

Alonso is easing his way into the Ferrari's cockpit.

Sebastian Vettel on the difference between driving the car light on fuel and heavy - "It is like jumping from a sports car to a truck."

He is expecting the lap time difference to be around 5 or 6 seconds.

Practice is underway with the two Force Indias heading out first.

Massa and Alonso also on track.

Schumacher also heading out - he is hoping to refine his one-lap pace after admitting to being a bit rusty yesterday.

Both Force Indias dive straight back into the pits with an installation lap complete.

Plenty of drivers completing their installation laps - just making sure nothing has changed with the car since yesterday.

No dramas so far.

Latest track update from Force India and Liuzzi: "Installs completed now some time in the garage. Tonio says there is a lot of debris on the track right now."

Chandhok is in his car - his heart rate will be racing.

Button is out on track, taking it easy and shifting gears early.

Hamilton is also out on track for his installation lap.

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Vettel completes a practice start at the end of the pit lane. Building up the revs and firing off onto the track.

Di Grassi reports a problem with the gearbox and heads straight back to the pits.

A question from Fareez: "What type of setup will the teams use in this session? Qualifying or race?"

The teams will be using a qualifying set-up, they did most of their race prep yesterday. However, don't expect the times from this session to be mirrored in qualifying - they may well hold something back.

Also the track conditions are not great so lap times will get lower throughout the day.

Disaster for Chandhok - A hydraulic problem has stopped him heading out on track. He was expecting to run in this session.

Vettel has set the fastest time so far with a 1:55.178 - quicker than Rosberg's yesterday.

Alonso makes a slight mistake at the top of the circuit, running wide.

Glock's Virgin has lost a tyre.

The front left wheel came off - presumably due to a loose wheel nut.

Fortunately no one is injured and the session has not been stopped.

Glock is limping back to the pits.

Meanwhile Massa goes fastest with a 1:54.761.

Most drivers are out on hard tyres, so potentially more lap time to be gained on the softs.

Rosberg goes second fastest on hard tyres with a 1:54.761.

Button's car bumps left and right through the new section and he gets wheelspin out of it.

A big bump in turn six caught the attention of plenty of the drivers yesterday.

Button sets the fastest final sector but is one second off the pace of Massa.

News from Renault: "Vitaly's reporting a bit too much oversteer at the moment."

The Virgin tyre came off because the wheel was not tight enough. The wheel gun was under-tourqued.

Question from Jourdan: "Are drivers like Lewis Hamilton, who've had numerous tire "usage" problems, be at a great disadvantage because of the importance this year to preserve tires especially at Bahrain where tire graining is an issue?"

It's certainly a concern. But it will also be about how drivers can adapt their style - Hamilton is very good at driving a car that is unbalanced.

Senna runs wide on his third lap of the day.

New Monster Energy drinks sponsors on the Mercedes drivers' helmets.

Twenty minutes left in the session and Massa is still on top.

Schumacher comes up behind Senna and breezes past him.

Schumacher holds a violent slide through turn six.

A question from Mark: "What are the key advantages of the McLaren rear wing & how long before the other teams follow?"

Put simply, as I don't have much time to answer, the driver can shut some airflow off to the rear wing, stalling it. It adds an extra 4 mph down the straights and means they can maintain full downforce through the corners. Might not sound like much but it could be useful for overtaking. All the teams with a big enough budget will be trying something similar in the coming races.

Hamilton will not be out again this session. No quali simulation for him.

Still no fast laps going in. The drivers will bolt on some softs tyres soon and put in a fast lap.

Chandhok still hasn't been out. If he doesn't complete three laps by the end of the session he will not be allowed to compete in qualifying.

At the tail end, Glock's Virgin is about a second faster than the Lotuses.

Lots of work going on around the left front hub of Hamilton's McLaren.

Alonso out on soft tyres.

Half a second up through sector two.

Sets a 1:54.099 - the fastest so far.

Sutil also out on softs, what can he do?

Not much, he must of made a mistake in sector two - over a second off the pace.

Button just off Alonso's time through sector one.

Drops more time in sector two but it is his best so far. Fourth fastest overall.

Kubica pops up to seventh fastest.

Vettel out on softs now. But not as fast as Alonso.

Schumacher goes third fastest.

Rosberg on a hot lap, fastest in sector one.

Rosberg still on for fastest lap...

And he just misses out on Alonso's time loses over 0.2 seconds in the last sector.

The chequered flag is out, no drivers look like they are going to beat Alonso. The Ferrari driver finished 0.269 up on Rosberg.

So first blood to Ferrari, although Massa is 0.640 off Alonso and back in seventh.

Thanks for joining us, we'll be back in two hours time for qualifying. Chandhok didn't complete a lap so his weekend appears to be over.