Four cars enclosed in 74 thousandths of a second and two are Ferraris. This is the verdict at the conclusion of the third free practice session of the Spanish GP. In front of everyone is Carlos Sainz, confident in his home race since the start of the weekend: the Madrid native clocked an excellent 1’13″013 on the soft tires with the soft tires in qualifying trim, but without an engine yet pushed in electronic mapping.
At just 37 thousandths there is Charles Leclerc who has found his smile again after the hard work carried out by the Scuderia during the night: the Monegasque has arrived close to his teammate, having finally found a set-up that allows him to extract the potential of the red at ease with the heat of Barcelona (27 degrees of air and 45 degrees of asphalt).
On the return lap to the pits there was a contact between Leclerc and Lando Norris which was noticed and which will be investigated later: the Ferrari driver closed the line causing a small contact with the McLaren. The Monegasque wanted to give a “signal” to the Englishman who preceded the SF-24 in the flying lap by just 7 thousandths of a second. Lando’s MCL38, therefore, was locked in the grip of the two Ferraris, anticipating a beautiful battle that we will see in qualifying, while Oscar Piastri did not impress in the qualifying simulation, ending in tenth place with a gap of eight tenths from his teammate: the The Australian paid for a wide shot at turn 7 which cost him dearly.
Closing the poker of drivers within less than a tenth is Max Verstappen: the Dutchman with 1’13″087 is just 74 thousandths of a second away and seems to have found a good balance of the RB20 at the last minute. The three-time world champion he was the only one to do a simulation of 11 laps with the mediums and a full tank of fuel, while all the others worked on the softs. The Milton Keynes team could also decide to start with the yellows to mix up the strategy with a first longer run.
Sergio Perez, on the other hand, is desperate: the Mexican is seventh, seven tenths behind Sainz because up until the last run his technicians made set-up changes in the hope of finding a setup suitable for setting a time. Behind Verstappen are the two Mercedes who lost the scepter on Friday: George Russell is fifth with a gap of 151 thousandths, while Lewis Hamilton is sixth, but 346 thousandths behind. The seven-time world champion sought the performance before his teammate.
Lewis is under investigation for an impiding of Lance Stroll: Hamilton widened late at turn 5 to make room for the Canadian who had to abort his lap, but reacted with a bad gesture: while Lewis was apologizing with his hand, Lance he thought it best to give his colleague a free ride. The result? Stroll damaged the bottom due to a reckless gesture. The two drivers will have to go and explain their reasons to the stewards. And measures will come. It’s true that Lance only finished 17th, but the heat must have gone to his head…
Good performance from Alex Albon, eighth with Williams ahead of Fernando Alonso with the best Aston Martin with the same engine. Oscar Piastri closes the top 10 ahead of the two Alpines of Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly. Yesterday the Enstone team did a lap with the Renault engine pumped up and the tank empty, following an indication from Briatore who knows how to move things: Gasly fourth was a decoy.
The two Haas cars of Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen were 13th and 15th respectively: Valtteri Bottas slipped in between the two VF-24s with the Sauber. The Finn defends himself, while Guanyu Zhou only disappoints in 19th: the Chinese returned to the old chassis because he doesn’t like the newer one, but the substance has not changed.
We expected more from the Racing Bulls who brought a half-new car to Montmelò: Daniel Ricciardo is content to stay ahead of Yuki Tsunoda. The Australian is 16th, while the Japanese is 18th with the disappointed Stroll in the middle.
Last was the usual Logan Sargeant: he finally had Williams material equal to that of Albon, but remained at the back of the grid, totally unmotivated…
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