@Max33Verstappen tops rain-affected FP3 session. #F1 #BelgianGP

Verstappen Belgian GP FP3 – Championship leader Max Verstappen topped a damp FP3 session affected by a red flag after Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll suffered a shunt at Raidillon.

Verstappen’s benchmark was a 2:01.565 on the inters and was 1.433 seconds clear of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri as Alpine’s Pierre Gasly rounded out the top three 1.610’s off the Dutchman as the other MCL38 entry of Lando Norris was fourth.

Verstappen lined-up at the end of the pits to hit the Circuit De Spa-Francorchamps as soon as the final 60-minute practice session got underway and registered the opening benchmark of a 2:03.232 – 20-seconds slower than the fastest time in FP2 yesterday.

Verstappen continued on his four-lap stint on the intermediates – bringing the time down to 2:01.565 as the opening five minutes ended, and ahead of Piastri, Gasly and Norris.

Norris was one of the two drivers who went off at turn nine – the final part of Les Combes – and skated through the gravel, with McLaren opting to change the floor of his MCL38 racer as a result of the excursion.

The rain then increased, and the drivers stopped improving, then started returning back to the pits, when Stroll crashed at Raidillon having lost the rear of his AMR24 racer half-way up the hill from Eau Rouge.

The Canadian spun after aquaplaning, with his front-left whacking the barriers underneath the giant grandstand, before the Aston Martin driver pulled over a little further up before the red flag was waved.

After an almost 10-minute delay, the session went back to green with two third remaining, but the majority opted to remain in their garages.

The next 15-minutes passed, and no cars emerged as the rain continued to pour down, race control halted the session for a second time.

The medical car was sent around the Circuit De Spa-Francorchamps to assess the conditions shortly after the second red flag period, but the session only got back to running with just two minutes left on the clock.

Right at the end, only a few drivers headed out on track – including Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen, who had not appeared during the early phase – came out on the full wets, but not with enough time to start a hot-lap, the early order remained the same until the end.

During his sighting tour, Sainz went off into the turn 10 gravel trap, as Verstappen almost done at the beginning of the session.

Behind the top four runners, Alpine’s Esteban Ocon, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, the aforementioned Stroll were fifth, sixth and seventh respectively.

Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes’ Sir Lewis Hamilton and Red Bull’s Sergio Perez rounded out the top ten.

Williams Racing’s Alexander Albon was outside the top ten in 11^th place and ahead of Haas F1 Team’s Nico Hulkenberg who placed 12^th and Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso who came 13^th in the classification.

RB duo Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda were 14^th and 15^th respectively as Sauber’s Zhou Guanyu and Williams’ Logan Sargeant took 16^th and 17^th.

Mercedes’ George Russell, Haas F1 Team’s Magnussen and Ferrari’s Sainz did not register a lap-time.

You can see the full Formula 1 Rolex Belgian Grand Prix 2024 Free Practice 3 Results classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results/2024/races/1242/belgium/practice/3

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