Max Verstappen may not have been happy with his ‘run’ in the second half of FP3, but that didn’t stop the reigning world champion from setting the fastest time and taking a 1-2 lead over Red Bull.
The Dutchman clocked a time of 1:29.563 to finish 0.2 seconds ahead of Sergio Perez, with George Russell moving into third place.
Max Verstappen leads Red Bull 1-2 ahead of qualifying
All eyes are on the Williams garage ahead of FP3, with team principal James Vowles confirming that Logan Sargent’s FW46 has been repaired and unless the upgraded front wing end plate is missing, Alex It was revealed that it has the same specifications as Albon’s FW46.
Meanwhile, Aston Martin confirmed overnight that the team had installed the Suzuka upgrade on Fernando Alonso’s car, and on the Spaniard and Lance Stroll, who had the same specification since FP3, after back-to-back comparison tests on Friday. .
The drivers who lost FP2 to rain on Friday were immediately back in action on Saturday, with Max Verstappen becoming the first driver ahead of his S Stakes teammate and Sergio Perez. One driver who was in no hurry was Lando Norris, who headed to the McLaren garage after the green light, signing autographs along the way.
As Kevin Magnussen spun into the grass at the hairpin, Verstappen clocked a 1:30.265 to move Perez into second ahead of Charles Leclerc. The trio, all on medium tyres, dropped one place as Lewis Hamilton set the fastest time of 1:30.0 on soft tyres.
George Russell, who was running a different program than his team-mates, concentrated on medium long run pace and was at the other end of the timesheets in 20th place.
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Daniel Ricciardo joined the list of spinners and moved up to 12th place on the next lap, leaving the RB driver three tenths behind teammate Yuki Tsunoda.
McLaren tied the Red Bulls with Lando Norris third and Oscar Piastrin fourth, 10 seconds behind, while Alonso, who was on hard tires and wearing the new aero package for the first time, finished ninth.
However, when he traditionally switched to soft tires for the qualifying simulation in the last 15 minutes of the session, everything on the timesheet changed.
Alex Albon was the first out, shaving almost two seconds off his previous best time and showing there was room for improvement. Russell moved into first place with a time of 1:29.9 from his slowest time.
However, he didn’t stay there for long as Verstappen set a three-tenths faster time. Still, he reported that he was not satisfied with his car. “The car suddenly felt very uncomfortable,” he told Red Bull. Perez moved into second place.
Russell led Mercedes 3-4, with Aston Martin’s Alonso fifth and Hamilton finishing 10th.
times
1 Max Verstappen 1:29.563
2 Sergio Perez +0.269
3 George Russell +0.355
4 Lewis Hamilton +0.474
5 Fernando Alonso +0.519
6 Lando Norris +0.574
7 Carlos Sainz +0.608
8 Oscar Piastri +0.663
9 Yuki Tsunoda +0.778
10 Charles Leclerc +0.820
11 Alexander Albon +0.970
12 Valtteri Bottas +0.983
13 Daniel Ricciardo +1.119
14 Esteban Ocon +1.459
15 Zhou Guanyu +1.504
16 Nico Hulkenberg +1.576
17 Pierre Gasly +1.578
18 Lance Stroll +1.779
19 Logan Sargent +1.889
20 Kevin Magnussen +1.899
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