The China Mail - McLaren duo in ominous show of force in Saudi final practice

Norris topped the timesheets with a late fastest lap of 1min 27.489sec.

That was narrowly quicker than Piastri, who won from pole in Bahrain last weekend.

But in an ominous sign of their superiority the chasing pack led by George Russell's Mercedes was over six tenths of a second away, a yawning chasm.

Red Bull's Max Verstappen, looking for improvement after only sixth in Sakhir, came in fourth with the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc completing the top five.

McLaren are seeking their fourth win from five on Sunday, after Norris took the season-opener in Melbourne with Piastri winning in China and Sakhir.

Norris leads the drivers standings by three points from Piastri with Verstappen a further five points back ahead of this fifth round of the 24-race season.

The track temperature was over 50 degrees celsius (122 degrees fahrenheit) on a roasting Saturday afternoon on the banks of the Red Sea.

- 'This guy blind' -

The final session, like first practice 24 hours earlier, was hardly representative of qualifying later Saturday and Sunday's race with both held in cooler conditions after sunset under floodlights.

Gabriel Bortoleto was out first, last year's Formula 2 champion making up for lost time after missing second practice on Friday night with a fuel leak on his Sauber.

The Brazilian got the first lap on the board and led the time sheets for all of a matter of seconds before Oliver Bearman took temporary control.

The British teenager has fond memories of this circuit where he made his dramatic debut last year as a late super sub for Ferrari's appendicitis-hit Carlos Sainz.

A polished performance to finish seventh that day earned him a rookie call up at Haas this year.

After a quarter-of-an-hour Piastri and Norris took control to endorse their claims on the front of Sunday's grid.

Isack Hadjar meanwhile was on the team radio to his RB pitlane complaining about his leaking drinks system: "I have water flying around my helmet, it's annoying."

Yuki Tsunoda, who had given his Red Bull mechanics some extra work last night after his late smash in second practice, emerged from the garage midway through the session telling his team: "Thanks guys for the car".

The Japanese driver then earned Piastri's displeasure when momentarily blocking the Australian's path with Piastri saying: "Bro, this guy blind?".

Piastri continued to set the pace from Norris, two tenths of a second splitting the McLarens.

A brief respite in track action followed ahead of the final flurry of laps wih drivers pushing their cars to the limit on fresh tyres for the last time before the business end of the weekend.

One driver who had a session to forget was Lewis Hamilton, who has cut a bit of a forlorn figure so far this weekend as he continues to come to grips with his new surroundings at Ferrari.

The seven-time champion could post only the 12th quickest time, slower than rookie Hadjar's RB and the teenager who took over his spot at Mercedes, Kimi Antonelli.

Y.Parker--ThChM