Verstappen leads third French GP practice by over seven tenths

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen set a scintillating pace in the final practice session ahead of the French Grand Prix at Paul Ricard, seven tenths clear of the lead Mercedes.

Key moments:

> Verstappen seven tenths clear of Bottas
> Sainz an impressive third-quickest for Ferrari
> Perez and Hamilton both almost one second down on Verstappen
> Alpine’s strong home weekend continues

Championship leader Verstappen was the early pacesetter in the session, eclipsing Valtteri Bottas’s best effort by just 0.009 seconds after the first flying laps on the soft tyres.

On the same set of tyres, Verstappen improved his lap by over two tenths but he ran wide over the white line before the left-hand Turn 7 kink and his fastest lap was deleted – although Verstappen insisted on the team radio “I swear that was still in”.

A brilliant lap by @Max33Verstappen 🤩

But unfortunately track limits ruling strikes, and his time is deleted ❌#FrenchGP 🇫🇷 #F1 pic.twitter.com/CwnMIoAFi2

— Formula 1 (@F1) June 19, 2021

Meanwhile, Bottas had improved his lap and his 1m32.309s was just 0.028s quicker than Verstappen’s benchmark.

The gulf between Mercedes and Red Bull then blossomed in the final 15 minutes of the session with Verstappen improving to a 1m31.300s, to go 0.747s clear of Bottas.

Carlos Sainz was an impressive third-fastest for Ferrari – on pole for the last two races with his team-mate Charles Leclerc – while the second Red Bull of Sergio Perez was fourth-quickest but almost a second slower than Verstappen.

Also over a second adrift of Verstappen was his main title rival Hamilton, who rounded out the top five, some 0.966s away from the top of the timesheets.

McLaren’s Lando Norris was sixth-quickest ahead of Alpine drivers Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon.

The AlphaTauri of Pierre Gasly was ninth-quickest, while Daniel Ricciardo rounded out the top 10 for McLaren.

Leclerc couldn’t match the pace of his team-mate Sainz, over a second and a half adrift of Verstappen’s benchmark in 11th place.

The Aston Martins continued to struggle, with Lance Stroll and Sebastian Vettel recording the 13th- and 14th-fastest times respectively.

❌ Into the red-zone ❌

Big off for @nikita_mazepin, similar to the off-track mishap by Sainz on Friday 👀#FrenchGP 🇫🇷 #F1 pic.twitter.com/0h36brjGx5

— Formula 1 (@F1) June 19, 2021

Nikita Mazepin was the first to fall foul of the circuit as he half-spun his Haas on the exit of Turn 2 just under 20 minutes into the session. He ended the session as the slowest driver.

Practice 3 Results