Home F1 Spanish GP: Sainz leads another close FP3 by 0.030s margin

Spanish GP: Sainz leads another close FP3 by 0.030s margin

22/06/2024

Carlos Sainz took to the front in FP3 of F1 Spanish GP in another close fight against Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc.

Continuing the closely fought session, Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz (1m13.013s) set the pace in FP3 of F1 Spanish GP at Barcelona by 0.030s margin over McLaren’s Lando Norris (1m13.043s), with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc (1m13.050s) a further 0.007s behind.

In fact, the Top 4 were covered by just the 0.074s gap with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen in fourth, as Mercedes’ George Russell made it four different teams in the Top 5. The lap times were close all-through but there were some scrappy moments for all.

Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton was sixth but he along with few others were involved in some hairy shaves on track. The Brit seemingly came in the way of Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll whom he didn’t spot and apologised on the radio too in the left-hander.

Stroll came to him when they touched sidepod to show displeasure with the FIA looking into the matter. The governing body are to also look at the incident between Norris and Leclerc towards the end, when the Monegasque seemingly did the same against the Brit.

Leclerc was probably held up by Norris and to show his displeasure he swerved towards him. Just behind, Sainz had to take evasive action against Verstappen and Norris. The Dutchman’s teammate Sergio Perez was seventh from Williams’ Alexander Albon.

Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso improved a bit to be ninth as McLaren’s Oscar Piastri rounded out the Top 10 after a moment on his fast lap. The Alpine pair continued their fine form with Esteban Ocon in 11th ahead of Pierre Gasly in 12th.

Haas’ Nico Hulkenberg showed some pace to be 13th with Kevin Magnussen in 15th behind Stake F1 Team’s Valtteri Bottas who dropped off a bit from Friday. Visa Cash App RB’s Daniel Ricciardo was only 16th from Aston Martin’s Stroll.

The other Visa Cash App RB of Yuki Tsunoda was 18th from Stake F1 Team’s Zhou Guanyu and Williams’ Logan Sargeant. Despite the fire at motorhome, McLaren managed to run its normal programme. The fire seemingly took place due to an electrical short circuit on the upper floor in the kitchen.

Fire attenders had to rush in along with team members and even Pirelli boss Mario Isola. The Italian has volunteered for Italian fire service which came handy. Some fire fighters and team members were taken to hospital due to inhaling smoke, but no was harmed massively.

“This morning we evacuated our Team Hub paddock hospitality unit following a fire alert, the team has been safely evacuated while the local fire brigade handle the issue,” the note from McLaren said.