Saudi Arabian Grand Prix – Free Practice 3: Leclerc ahead of both Red Bulls

Following the explosion at the Aramco oil facility, located 30km from the track, this Saturday began under tense conditions.

Valtteri Bottas’ Alfa Romeo was the first car to hit the track during this third practice session.

He was followed by Kevin Magnussen. The Danish driver had a complicated Friday due to a technical issue that cost him a lot of running time in FP2. It was a loss of experience all the more detrimental when considering that the Haas driver is one of only three drivers who have never driven in Jeddah.

Ferrari always in the lead.

After 5 minutes of the session, the two Ferraris that dominated the time sheet in FP1 and FP2 left their garage. With 40 minutes remaining, Charles Leclerc set a time of 1’30’139.

The Red Bull engines are fast but…

With 35 minutes remaining, Sergio Perez positioned himself between the two Ferraris. The Mexican was then overtaken by Pierre Gasly’s AlphaTauri. On the other hand, his teammate Yuki Tsunoda managed to secure a place in the Top 6.

A little later, it was Max Verstappen who displaced Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari from the first place with a time of 1’29’768.

The 4 Red Bull engines were all in first positions in terms of top speed. A real advantage for the many full throttle passages in the third sector.

Unfortunately, despite this great feat, with only 20 minutes of the session remaining, Pierre Gasly was complaining of a transmission problem which forced him to abandon his car in the pit lane.

With 5 minutes remaining, it was the two Red Bulls that occupied the top of the timesheets in favor of Max Verstappen.

However, the celebration of the red bulls was spoiled at the end of the session by Charles Leclerc, who set a time of 1’29’735. 33 thousandths ahead of Max Verstappen’s Red Bull.

Mercedes in difficulty.

5th and 6th during Free Practice 2, the silver arrows encountered more difficulties during the hotter conditions of FP3.

With 10 minutes remaining, Lewis Hamilton was only in 9th place, more than a second behind Max Verstappen’s time, while George Russell was in 12th place, two tenths behind his teammate.

Generally speaking, it was the Mercedes engines that struggled during this session, with 7 out of the 8 clients of the German engine occupying the 7 worst positions in the ranking.

FP3 table: