Despite having a Friday of poor running, Max Verstappen spoilt Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team’s weekend in topping the final practice of the weekend. Verstappen found himself floating around the middle of the table during the afternoon session on Friday but that doesn’t seem to have been a true reflection of his pace and is looking like a real threat for pole position.
Red Bull Racing teammate Sergio Pérez didn’t have the best of mornings, his fastest time was seven tenths of a second off of his teammate and found himself tenth fastest.
Lewis Hamilton came in second after spending much of the session on top but was eventually eclipsed by Verstappen. Valtteri Bottas found himself over half a second off the fastest lap in what can only be described as a disappointing session for him as he finished fifth overall.
Scuderia Ferrari continued to be a threat to the top three this weekend, Charles Leclerc has been rapid all weekend and got himself into the top three for a second session running with the third fastest lap; His teammate Carlos Sainz Jr. was just behind him in fourth.
Lando Norris became the next victim to the new Turn 10. Norris had a small lock-up and went into the gravel. Luckily, he was able to get his car going again and continue on to the pits. The Brit still put in a strong session, finishing sixth overall. His McLaren F1 Team teammate Daniel Ricciardo picked up the pace from Friday’s sessions, breaking into the top ten and finishing eighth.
Pierre Gasly left it to the final minutes of the session to pull out a top ten lap and split the McLaren’s in seventh. Yuki Tsunoda has been having a good weekend but couldn’t quite get the same pace as Gasly, finishing twelfth.
Kimi Räikkönen suffered a puncture when running on the soft tyres. He was able to bring his car back to the pits, albeit slowly. Despite this, he still managed to get a lap that put him into the top ten, being ninth fastest overall. Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN teammate Antonio Giovinazzi was down the other end of the timings screen in sixteenth.
Alpine F1 Team weren’t able to repeat their heroics of Friday’s afternoon session. Neither driver could break the top ten with Fernando Alonso coming just shy in eleventh and Esteban Ocon in thirteenth.
Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team’s misfortunes continue. Lance Stroll finished fourteenth with Sebastian Vettel coming in seventeenth, a whole second and a half off of Verstappen.
George Russell was once sitting pretty in seventh early in the session but wasn’t able to keep himself there. He finished fifteenth with Williams Racing teammate Nicholas Latifi in eighteenth.
Uralkali Haas F1 Team duo of Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin finished off the grid coming nineteenth and twentieth respectively.
Free Practice 3 results
Pos | NO | Driver | Nat. | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
1 | 33 | Max Verstappen | NED | Red Bull Racing Honda | 1:17.835 | 11 | |
2 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | GBR | Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team | 1:18.070 | +0.235s | 14 |
3 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | MON | Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow | 1:18.308 | +0.473s | 17 |
4 | 55 | Carlos Sainz Jr. | ESP | Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow | 1:18.410 | +0.575s | 18 |
5 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | FIN | Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team | 1:18.423 | +0.588s | 15 |
6 | 4 | Lando Norris | GBR | McLaren F1 Team | 1:18.494 | +0.659s | 14 |
7 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | FRA | Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda | 1:18.535 | +0.700s | 17 |
8 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | AUS | McLaren F1 Team | 1:18.582 | +0.747s | 21 |
9 | 7 | Kimi Räikkönen | FIN | Alfa Romeo Racing Orlen | 1:18.597 | +0.762s | 18 |
10 | 11 | Sergio Pérez | MEX | Red Bull Racing Honda | 1:18.606 | +0.771s | 16 |
11 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | ESP | Alpine F1 Team | 1:18.662 | +0.827s | 18 |
12 | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | JAP | Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda | 1:18.673 | +0.838s | 21 |
13 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | FRA | Alpine F1 Team | 1:18.700 | +0.865s | 15 |
14 | 18 | Lance Stroll | CAN | Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team | 1:18.877 | +1.042s | 18 |
15 | 63 | George Russell | GBR | Williams Racing | 1:19.005 | +1.170s | 17 |
16 | 99 | Antonio Giovinazzi | ITA | Alfa Romeo Racing Orlen | 1:19.214 | +1.379s | 19 |
17 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | GER | Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team | 1:19.363 | +1.528s | 18 |
18 | 6 | Nicholas Latifi | CAN | Williams Racing | 1:19.392 | +1.557s | 16 |
19 | 47 | Mick Schumacher | GER | Uralkali Haas F1 Team | 1:19.999 | +2.164s | 17 |
20 | 9 | Nikita Mazepin | RUS | Uralkali Haas F1 Team | 1:20.237 | +2.402s | 15 |