Lewis Hamilton steered his Mercedes to the fastest lap at Bahrain's Formula One test session, where Red Bull's preseason woes continued on Friday.

Hamilton's time of 1 minute, 34.263 seconds was quickest through three days at the Sakhir Circuit, while former McLaren team-mate Jenson Button was over seven-tenths of a second behind.

Red Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo's day ended after 28 laps from a mechanical problem, something the defending champions have been wracked with all preseason.

"We're getting there," Ricciardo, who trailed Hamilton by over six seconds said. "It's coming together bit by bit. We'd love a big chunk all at once but obviously that's not the way these things work, so we have to be a bit patient."
Kimi Raikkonen was 3.213 seconds behind in sixth for Ferrari.