For the third practice of the GP weekend, it is announced that Pierre Gasly will drive with Alpine in 2023. Immediately afterwards, Alpha Tauri announces that the Dutchman Nyck de Vries will take over the seat from Gasly. Back to practice where the drivers and teams can drive without rain tires for the first time this weekend.
From the moment the starting gun is fired, the drivers shoot out of their pit boxes. The F1 teams will want to find out in this session how the cars are doing on dry. The prediction is that it will remain dry today, which means that we will also qualify on the slicks. However, it could rain on Sunday. As a result, the team and driver want to find a good balance between a setup for a dry and wet track.
Long distances
After the first runs, Max Verstappen has the fastest time. Yet the times matter even less now than they already do in the training sessions. All twenty drivers do long runs to get an indication of tire wear in addition to the grip level. With so many cars on the track, a meeting between the drivers is inevitable.
Especially in the last chicane, the Casio Triangle, one has to watch out for slow-moving cars. This is how Tsunoda meets Fernando Alonso. Moments later Max Verstappen arrives at full speed while Carlos Sainz slowly rolls his Ferrari in the middle of the road. Verstappen passes unscathed, but does let his displeasure be heard over the radio.
Windy Suzuka
There appears to be a strong wind on Suzuka. After Hamilton, Nicholas Latifi also reports that the wind is blowing hard. “This is the strongest wind I’ve seen this season.” Perhaps this also played a role during his wrong turn in VT2 yesterday. The wind also causes cars to overshoot in the last chicane. There is no expensive price for overshooting because there is artificial grass next to the chicane.
At the end of the session, the Red Bulls do some laps on new soft tires in preparation for qualifying. Verstappen therefore sets the fastest time for both Ferraris. Sainz is only 0.015 seconds faster than his teammate. Alonso joins in fourth ahead of Checo Pérez.
3rd free practice of the Japanese GP 2022
- Max Verstappen
- Carlos Sainz
- Charles Leclerc
- Fernando Alonso
- Sergio PerezI
What time does F1 start at Suzuka?
Saturday
Qualification: 08:00 am – 09:00 am
Sunday
Race: 07:00 o’clock
#3rd #free #practice #Japanese