Charles Leclerc edged Max Verstappen with a last-ditch flying lap to top the final Formula 1 practice session before qualifying at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
Key moments
- Leclerc fastest by 0.033s
- Verstappen has to abandon his fastest lap
- Gasly’s AlphaTauri stops, misses half the session
- Hamilton and Russell 11th and 14th
FP3 ran as scheduled following the decision to continue with the weekend’s grand prix in the wake of the missile strike in Jeddah on Friday.
Championship leader Leclerc topped the early stages of the session before he was displaced by reigning F1 champion Verstappen, who went four tenths faster and set the quickest time of the weekend so far.
Verstappen was on course to lower than benchmark within the final 10 minutes of the session until he ran wide at the high-speed Turn 22 left-hander and had to abandon his lap.
Shortly after that his Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez moved himself up to second place while Leclerc’s own flying lap resulted in the third-fastest time and his team-mate Carlos Sainz went fourth.
With one more flying lap just as the chequered flag was shown, Leclerc moved himself above Verstappen by just 0.033 seconds to top the session on a 1m29.375s ahead of Verstappen, Perez and Sainz.
Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas was fifth ahead of Alpine’s Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly, who had to bring his AlphaTauri to a halt at the end of the pitlane, reporting a driveshaft issue that prematurely ended his session just after the halfway point.
Kevin Magnussen, who missed the entirety of FP1 and half of FP2, was eighth fastest for Haas ahead of Fernando Alonso and Yuki Tsunoda, who completed the top 10 for Alpine and AlphaTauri respectively.
Lewis Hamilton was the highest-placed Mercedes driver in 11th place ahead of the Ferrari-powered cars of Mick Schumacher (Haas) and 2022 rookie Zhou Guanyu (Alfa Romeo).
Hamilton’s Mercedes team-mate George Russell was only 14th quickest ahead of the Aston Martin, Williams and McLaren cars.
Practice 3 Results
| Pos | Name | Car | Best Time | Gap Leader |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1m29.735s | |
| 2 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 1m29.768s | +0.033s |
| 3 | Sergio Pérez | Red Bull | 1m29.833s | +0.098s |
| 4 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | 1m30.009s | +0.274s |
| 5 | Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 1m30.03s | +0.295s |
| 6 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine-Renault | 1m30.139s | +0.404s |
| 7 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri-Red Bull | 1m30.148s | +0.413s |
| 8 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas-Ferrari | 1m30.262s | +0.527s |
| 9 | Fernando Alonso | Alpine-Renault | 1m30.296s | +0.561s |
| 10 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri-Red Bull | 1m30.415s | +0.68s |
| 11 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1m30.707s | +0.972s |
| 12 | Mick Schumacher | Haas-Ferrari | 1m30.765s | +1.03s |
| 13 | Guanyu Zhou | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 1m30.946s | +1.211s |
| 14 | George Russell | Mercedes | 1m30.983s | +1.248s |
| 15 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin-Mercedes | 1m31.067s | +1.332s |
| 16 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren-Mercedes | 1m31.186s | +1.451s |
| 17 | Alex Albon | Williams-Mercedes | 1m31.374s | +1.639s |
| 18 | Nico Hülkenberg | Aston Martin-Mercedes | 1m31.424s | +1.689s |
| 19 | Lando Norris | McLaren-Mercedes | 1m31.529s | +1.794s |
| 20 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams-Mercedes | 1m31.992s | +2.257s |
