Imola FP3: Everything you need to know

Max Verstappen ended Mercedes’ domination of the Imola practice sessions as Red Bull finally showed its hand ahead of Formula 1 qualifying.

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Key moments:

> Verstappen leads Norris, Hamilton top Mercedes in third

> Red Bull driver one of many to lose times for going wide at Turn 9

> Track limits altered for two corners after Friday

> Friday star Latifi causes red flag with brief off

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After a Friday disrupted by a suspected driveshaft failure, Verstappen spent most of the final practice session without a time to his name.

He was one of several drivers who had laptimes deleted through the session for going too wide at the fast Piratella left-hander in the middle sector.

But Verstappen eventually threaded together a legal, quick lap to become the first driver to dip below 1m15s this weekend, topping the times on a 1m14.958s.

Lando Norris was his nearest challenge, almost half a second back in his McLaren, with world champion Lewis Hamilton a further tenth behind for Mercedes.

Red Bull’s unleashed pace positions Verstappen as the favourite for qualifying but the muted sessions for Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas (eighth fastest) suggest Mercedes has a bit more speed in reserve.

Between the two black cars, Sergio Perez made a decent improvement late on to go fifth, followed by early pace-setter Charles Leclerc, Pierre Gasly and Carlos Sainz Jr.

It was a messy session in which track limits jumbled the order throughout.

Turn 9, Piratella, was the hotspot but in a further development on track limits, cutting the apex of the final part of Acque Minerale will not result in lap times deleted in qualifying or a warning in the race.

It’s also been clarified that drivers can use the yellow kerbs at the Variante Alta but may not leave the track to cut the corner – and Verstappen used this to good effect by monstering the kerbs on his pace-setting lap.

In total, 14 drivers had laps deleted in FP3. Only Kimi Raikkonen was unable to go quicker on a legal lap than on his deleted, but that didn’t impact his final position.

The session was also briefly red-flagged shortly before the halfway stage after an off for Nicholas Latifi.

🚩 RED FLAG 🚩

Latifi slides into the barriers coming out of Turn 5 💥

The Williams driver gets going again and limps back to the pits #ImolaGP 🇮🇹 #F1 pic.twitter.com/6ho5y6N4VJ

— Formula 1 (@F1) April 17, 2021

Latifi lost the rear slightly through the Villeneuve S and went wide, skating over the gravel and lightly into the barrier.

The Williams looked stuck but Latifi was able to reverse out and return to the pits with a broken front wing.

Other drivers to have big off-track moments were the Alfa Romeo pairing, with Kimi Raikkonen having a lairy trip through the gravel at Rivazza and a baffled Antonio Giovinazzi spinning on cold tyres exiting Tamburello.

Practice 3 Results