Max Verstappen led the way from Sergio Perez in a wet FP3 of F1 Spanish GP, as Lewis Hamilton rounded out the Top 3.
With rain predicted during FP3 of F1 Spanish GP, teams and drivers hurried to get few laps in on the slick compound. Most opted for the soft tyres but few ventured out on the hard compound. They quickly changed to soft apart from Alpine pair who remained on medium.
But before they could get many laps in, there was a red flag for an off for Williams’ Logan Sargeant. The American went deep in the final corner and beached himself on the gravel. It then started raining more leaving no one track.
McLaren’s Lando Norris did a run on the intermediate before coming in. Only at the latter stages, most took the track to get a running on the intermediate compound, with the FIA handing them an extra set ahead of the FP3 due to weather prediction.
By the end, some did use the soft tyre due to more dry patches on the circuit, but the times didn’t lower from the initial running where Red Bull’s Verstappen (1m13.654s) led a 1-2 with Perez (1m13.914s), as Mercedes’ Hamilton (1m14.072s) was third.
Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz was fourth from Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso, with Mercedes’ George Russell slotting in sixth ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, Ala Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas, AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda and McLaren’s Norris in the Top 10.
Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu was 11th from AlphaTauri’s Nyck de Vries with Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll in 13th. The Dutchman had a moment coming out of the pits, while Canadian had a gravel moment at the same corner as Alpine’s Pierre Gasly.
Haas’ Nico Hulkenberg was 14th from McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, with Alpine’s Esteban Ocon in 16th where the Frenchman set the pace on the medium tyres like teammate Gasly, wo was 18th behind Haas’ Kevin Magnussen.
The two Williams drivers Alexander Albon and Sargeant ended up 19th and 20th, where the team got back the American’s car with 10 minutes remaining. Post-session replays showed some impeding moments involving few drivers.
In other news, FIA steward Felix Holter rescued himself where Matthew Selley replaced him after the former was summoned along with Haas’ Guenther Steiner for the latter’s media comments from Thursday: https://www.fia.com/sites/default/files/decision-document/2023%20Spanish%20Grand%20Prix%20-%20Decision%20-%20Stewards%20Panel.pdf
Here’s PU elements update: https://www.fia.com/sites/default/files/decision-document/2023%20Spanish%20Grand%20Prix%20-%20New%20PU%20elements%20for%20this%20Competition_0.pdf
FP3 CLASSIFICATION
Max Verstappen tops a wet-dry FP3 session in Barcelona#SpanishGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/EqZlKyeCYc
— Formula 1 (@F1) June 3, 2023
Here’s what was said after Friday in F1 Spanish GP