Final practice ends early for Vettel as Ferrari race to change his power unit before Sakhir qualifying

Sebastian Vettel's final practice session for the Sakhir Grand Prix ended early, after Ferrari confirmed they were changing his power unit before this evening's qualifying session.

Vettel, who was eighth quickest in FP1 and 16th after a big spin in FP2 on Friday, was running in the early part of final practice on Saturday before returning to the garage with 15 minutes left on the clock.

With the other drivers still circulating on the Bahrain track, Ferrari revealed they had decided to replace Vettel's power unit for "precautionary reasons" – though they did not give any further details on the need for the switch. They are reinstalling the unit he used for Friday practice, so if he does not need a further change he will not be hit with a grid penalty.

READ MORE: Leclerc encouraged by Ferrari’s Friday pace despite FP2 failure, as Vettel targets Q3 in Sakhir

The Scuderia mechanics now face a race against time to complete what is a big job in time for qualifying, which kicks off at 2000 local time, giving them just over two hours to get the work done in time.

Vettel ended up with the 15th-fastest lap time in the session, which was topped by Max Verstappen in the Red Bull, followed by Mercedes' Valtteri Bottas.

George Russell, subbing in for the ill Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes this weekend, was seventh fastest, after finishing top of the timesheets in both Friday sessions.

Vettel's team mate Charles Leclerc suffered a late spin in FP3, and finished the session 13th fastest, just 0.004s ahead.

FP3 REPORT: Verstappen beats Bottas to top final Sakhir practice as Vettel's session ends early