Max Verstappen almost led a Red Bull 1-2 in FP3 of F1 Saudi Arabian GP from Sergio Perez, but for a late lap from Charles Leclerc to go fastest.
After all the happening after the FP2 in F1 Saudi Arabian GP, the FP3 session went ahead as per the scheduled time with increased security. It was a clean session in terms of incidents with only few hiccups for certain drivers across the field.
AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly stopped at the end of pitlane due to likely an engine issue and had to be pushed back into the garage. On track, there were some moments for few drivers, but it was largely clean from everyone with no wall banging moment.
The standings saw a last-gasp fast time from Ferrari’s Leclerc who set a 1m29.735s lap to go up by 0.033s as the chequered flag fell. It though dismissed the chance of a Red Bull 1-2, with Verstappen (1m29.768s) ahead of Perez (1m29.833s).
The Top 3 were separated by just 0.098s, as a late lap from Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz (1m30.009s) put him in fourth ahead of Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas (1m30.030s). A late push from Alpine’s Esteban Ocon (1m30.139s) put him in sixth ahead of Gasly (1m30.148s).
After a disaster in FP1 and FP2, Haas’ Kevin Magnussen (1m30.262s) did well to be in eighth with Alpine’s Fernando Alonso (1m30.296s) and AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda (1m30.415s) rounding the Top 10. Lewis Hamilton was only 11th, where none of Mercedes-powered cars made it in the Top 10.
Haas’ Mick Schumacher lined-up in 11th ahead of Alfa Romeo’s Guanyu Zhou, with the rest of the places from 14th until 20th being Mercedes-powered cars. It was George Russell in 14th from Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll and McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo.
Williams’ Alexander Albon was 17th from Aston Martin’s Nico Hulkenberg, with McLaren’s Lando Norris 19th ahead of Williams’ Nicholas Latifi.
Fastest in FP1, FP2 and now FP3 @Charles_Leclerc is looking good ahead of qualifying #SaudiArabianGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/4swsBua1t5
— Formula 1 (@F1) March 26, 2022
Here’s the latest on Saudi Arabian GP
Here’s how F1 Saudi Arabian GP FP1 panned out
Here’s how F1 Saudi Arabian GP FP2 panned out