The sun finally! The third free practice session of the Canadian GP is free from rain and the teams take advantage of the dry hour to prepare for qualifying. Lewis Hamilton, on a track he likes, showed his strength in the simulation of the flying lap, reaching a 1’12″549 with the soft tyres. The seven-time world champion, perhaps, had a more advanced engine map, given that even George Russell, who had achieved his performance earlier, while the Montreal track was constantly evolving in grip, placed himself in third place with a better than usual W15.
Max Verstappen slipped between the two black and silver arrows and, right on the last lap, grazed the champions’ wall, while Alexander Albon hit him more decisively with the Williams, damaging the rear suspension. Verstappen, after the troubles with the MGU-K yesterday (engine 3 was sent to Milton Keynes for more in-depth checks), mounted the PU2. The Dutchman found a good lap on an empty tank, while he suffered quite visible graining on the front left and his race simulation seemed uninspiring.
Lance Stroll, supported by the home crowd, achieved fourth place with a clearly improving Aston Martin. Fernando Alonso is only eighth on the soft tyres, but the Spaniard had impressed with an interesting long run on the hard tyres. The “green” seems to have solved some of the emdemic problems, seeing as Lance has put the two McLarens behind him. Oscar Piastri is once again ahead of Lando Norris: the Australian is fifth but only by a few thousandths over his English teammate, seventh. Between the two “papaya” cars Daniel Ricciardo slipped in with the Racing Bull, excellent sixth, while Yuki Tsunoda, who is on the verge of renewal, was only 15th.
If Sergio Perez is ninth with Red Bull, Charles Leclerc’s tenth place with Ferrari is surprising. The Monegasque complained via radio that the red light was too slow, after having suffered a problem with the front brakes which did not allow him to find the best braking balance. Carlos Sainz also did poorly as he was never able to complete a clean lap, a sign that the SF-24 is not yet in order. The eight tenths of the red team’s gap is worrying, but there is a strong doubt that Ferrari used an engine with a map that wasn’t too high, so the performance is lacking, but it doesn’t mean that the Scuderia is in crisis as it seemed in the past. track.
Proof that there is something anomalous is given by Kevin Magnussen’s Haas slipping between the two Ferraris, while Nico Hulenberg is only 17th. Valtteri Bottas’ performance with Sauber was positive: the Finn was 13th. Bad, very bad Guanyu Zhou. Five minutes into the session, the Chinese lost control of his W44 at turn 2 after climbing the inside curb too much with cold tires and spun, ending up with his rear wheels against the barriers. Zhou ruined the new rear wing that the Swiss team had brought to Canada. Guanyu had already crashed yesterday in the first round due to aquaplaning and had crashed at the exit of the St. Devote in qualifying for the Monaco GP. It is not a favorable moment for the Asian who has entered a negative period which is heavily influencing the development of the Swiss single-seater.
Logan Sargeant’s session was positive, 14th with the Williams, definitely faster than Albon. Alpine is in difficulty with Pierre Gasly only 16th, with Esteban Ocon 19th.
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