Everything that happened in final French GP practice

Max Verstappen returned Red Bull to the top of the timesheets at the French Grand Prix leading the Ferrari duo in the final practice session ahead of qualifying.

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Key moments:

> Verstappen back on top
> Leclerc six tenths off in P3
> Mercedes still a second off

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Verstappen led much of the session on the medium tyres and when he bolted on the soft tyres he was able to displace Sainz at the top of the order, topping a session for the first time this weekend after a Ferrari-dominated Friday.

Verstappen’s 1m32.272s is the fastest time of the weekend so far and was 0.354s quicker than Sainz, who – along with Haas driver Kevin Magnussen – will start the French GP from the back of the grid with engine penalties.

Sainz’s Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc was third quickest but over six tenths adrift of Verstappen’s benchmark. He bailed out of one of his final push laps because of traffic and reported the tyres as “dead”.

The top four was completed by the lead Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton who opted for a higher-downforce set-up than his team-mate George Russell.

Hamilton was 0.983s off the top spot, with Russell just over a further tenth adrift.

They were split by the second Red Bull of Sergio Perez whose struggles to match the pace of his team-mate Verstappen this weekend continued.

Fernando Alonso was seventh-quickest for Alpine at the team’s home GP and he was followed by Alexander Albon, who will be going in search of his first Q3 appearance of the year in his upgraded Williams later on Saturday.

Yuki Tsunoda split the McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo in 10th place for AlphaTauri.

The only full-time 2022 F1 driver without a point, Nicholas Latifi was 12th-fastest, driving the upgraded Williams for the first time this season.

Sebastian Vettel’s session was curtailed early by floor damage and the Aston Martin driver ended up 20th and slowest. He was 2.2s off Verstappen’s benchmark, such was the closeness of the field.

Practice 3 Results