#F1 #JapaneseGP FP3: @Max33Verstappen edges @RedBullRacing team-mate @SChecoPerez by 0.269s.

Verstappen Japanese GP FP3 – Verstappen topped the time-sheets in the final FP3 session at the Japanese GP ahead of Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez as Mercedes’ George Russell and Lewis Hamilton rounded out the top four.

Verstappen posted the benchmark in the qualifying simulation runs with a 1:29.563 on the C3 Pirelli red side-walled Soft compounds and was 0.269 seconds quicker than team-mate Perez as Russell was a further 0.355 adrift in third.

Under brighter and warmer conditions at the Suzuka International Racing Course compared to yesterday, Verstappen was the first at the end of the pit-lane and lead a first initial stint on the C2 yellow-marked Mediums, which meant the reigning world champion set the first benchmark of the session at 1:30.265, but the Dutchman was soon knocked off the top by Mercedes’ Hamilton’s soft-run.

The Briton’s 1:30.065 initial hot-lap remained at the head of the times throughout the initial third of the final 60-minute session before qualifying this afternoon, which featured MoneyGram Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen suffering a spin in the gravel trap at the Casio Hairpin and RB’s Daniel Ricciardo also spinning at turn two.

To makeup for the washout of yesterday afternoon’s FP2 session, the teams spent the middle phase of proceedings completing long race data runs nearly five seconds off the leading pace.

This meant that Hamilton’s earlier flying tour continued as the session’s best past the halfway point, with his team-mate Russell at the rear of the timing-board at this phase for the Silver Arrows, with the younger Briton having begun final practice immediately with a long run, using the mediums.

Red Bull and Ferrari also spent the middle segment of the session assessing the durability of the medium compounds, whilst Mercedes and McLaren had Hamilton and Oscar Piastri respectively undertaking higher fuel running on the softer rubber.

Aston Martin were the sole runners using the harder tyres aboard the Mercedes-powered AMR24 entries – Fernando Alonso’s finally ran the updated sidepods that had been on team-mate Lance Stroll’s AMR24 only yesterday.

In the other McLaren MCL38 entry, Lando Norris had a similar run programme – instead making setup changes in the pits and attempting another flying lap to the one, which put him third in the classification in the early phase on used rubber.

As the final third of the session approached, the field returned back to the pits and re-emerged after a lull in track action for a 15-minute push of stints on the softer tyres to give the drivers a final shot on lower fuel ahead of qualifying.

With 10 minutes remaining, Russell jumped from the rear of the time-sheets to the top, deposing his team-mate Hamilton, setting a 1:29.918 before Verstappen moved ahead with a 1:29.563 – a tour that featured no purple sectors.

Hamilton’s late qualifying simulation stint saw the Briton achieve a personal best, but a fraction behind team-mate Russell, with the duo then shuffled back as Perez ran 0.269 seconds off his session-topping team-mate Verstappen to give another Red Bull one-two in practice this weekend – where the Mexican complained about his wing mirrors oscillating as his team-mate also did earlier.

With Alonso slotting in fifth place for Aston Martin, Norris’ personal best put the McLaren driver in sixth – the Briton having to abort his initial late flyer on a fresh set of softs due to a big sideways moment at Degner 2, where his McLaren team-mate Piastri also saved a huge snap on the exit kerb during the long race pace data gathering stints.

Norris’s effort thus came with the softs well past their best, whilst Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz took seventh – the Scuderia ran slightly out of sync with their respective rivals due to spending more time gathering data on the long runs in the mid-phase of proceedings.

McLaren’s Piastri placed eighth as RB’s Yuki Tsunoda and Ferrari’s Leclerc completed the top ten.

Williams Racing’s Alexander Albon finished the final practice session outside the top ten in 11^th place and ahead of Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas who was 12^th and RB’s Ricciardo who took 13^th in the classification.

Alpine’s Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly placed 14^th and 17^th respectively as Sauber’s Zhou Guanyu and Haas’s Nico Hulkenberg split the duo in 15^th and 16^th in the order.

Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll took 18^th as Williams Racing’s Logan Sargeant and Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen brought up the rear.

You can see the full Formula 1 MSC Cruises Japanese Grand Prix 2024 Free Practice 3 Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2024/races/1232/japan/practice-3.html

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