#F1 #SpanishGP FP3: @Carlossainz55 pips @LandoNorris by 0.030s.

Sainz Spanish GP FP3 – Home favourite Carlos Sainz pipped McLaren’s Lando Norris to top the time-sheets in the final FP3 session at the Spanish GP as Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc rounded out the top three.

Sainz posted the session-topping benchmark of a 1:13.013 on the C3 red side-walled soft compound and was a very slim 0.030 seconds clear of Norris whilst Leclerc was a further 0.037 seconds off his Ferrari team-mate in third.

The Spaniard managed to beat Norris’s qualifying simulation soft stint in the final flurry of hot-laps, doing what the Mercedes pairing and his team-mate could not.

A slow start to the final practice session at the Circuit De Barcelona-Catalunya ensured that Mercedes’ Sir Lewis Hamilton had the track to himself in the opening five minutes, which he used to post the soft-rubber benchmark of a 1:14.178 – almost a second off his FP2 time-topper.

The seven-time world champion brought it down to a 1:13.865 shortly after his 2021 title-rival Max Verstappen posted a 1:14.237 effort on mediums but had to concede the advantage when Mercedes’ George Russell slotted in a 1:13.431 to go quickest.

The Mercedes pairing got split by the Ferrari drivers; Sainz jumped up to second, just a tenth adrift of Russell’s benchmark, while Leclerc was three-hundredths away from his team-mate after missing a heap of yesterday’s FP2 session.

Norris then wrestled his way between Russell and the Ferrari’s on a flyer with the C2 mediums, a very narrow 0.001 seconds clear of Sainz’s previous effort. McLaren’s preparation before FP3 was almost hampered by a fire in the team’s motorhome, but both drivers were able to take to the track with minimal loss in circuit time.

This early order shuffling ended with a string of long race runs, ahead of a late-session tumble instigated by the final flying tours in preparation before qualifying.

Both McLaren drivers aborted their initial hot-laps, with Norris abandoning his lap at turn seven and Oscar Piastri doing so at turn three, but Norris went on again to score a 1:13.043 on his next flying tour.

The Mercedes drivers found improvements and Hamilton set a purple sector two, but a few snaps of oversteer cost the Briton three-tenths at the end of the lap. Russell, put in an effort that was just 0.121 seconds adrift of Norris’s best time.

Sainz eclipsed Norris’s effort, posting a 1:13.013 to put his SF-24 entry to the head of the pile. This looked set to be beaten by his team-mate Leclerc, but a wide moment at turn 11 cost the Monegasque driver some time and wounded up third – and just 0.037 seconds off the Spaniard.

Norris secured second place as there was no further improvements near the end, although had a slight tangle with Leclerc at the end of the session as the Ferrari driver cut across a slow-moving Norris at turn seven making contact.

Verstappen and Russell were fourth and fifth respectively, whilst sixth-placed Hamilton had his own contact with Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll: Hamilton seemed to impede Stroll slightly and attempted to back off at turn five to let the Canadian by, but Stroll appeared to waddle mid-corner and took a swipe at the seven-time world champion.

The second Red Bull RB20 entry of Sergio Perez, who carries a three-placed-grid-penalty ahead of qualifying ended FP3 seventh in the order.

Williams Racing’s Alexander Albon was eighth as other home favourite Fernando Alonso took ninth for Aston Martin and McLaren’s Oscar Piastri completed the top ten.

BWT Alpine F1 Team pairing Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly followed in 11^th and 12^th respectively and in-front of Haas duo Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen ended FP3 in 13^th and 15^th whilst Valtteri Bottas split the two VF-24’s in 14^th.

RB’s Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda placed 16^th and 18th respectively as Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll split the pairing in 17^th.

Sauber’s Zhou Guanyu and Williams Racing’s Logan Sargeant brought up the rear.

Hamilton and Stroll’s incident at turn five and Leclerc and Norris’s incident at turn seven is currently investigated by the race stewards.

You can see the full Formula 1 Aramco Gran Premio De Espana 2024 Free Practice 3 Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2024/races/1238/spain/practice-3.html

#F1 #SpanishGP FP2: @LewisHamilton edges @Carlossainz55, @LandoNorris to top time-sheets.

#F1 #SpanishGP FP1: @LandoNorris quickest ahead of @Max33Verstappen by 0.024s.

#F1 @Aramco #SpanishGP 2024 Preview. #BarcelonaGP #Formula1

TermiOnTrack #F1 Newsbites – June Edition.