Canadian Grand Prix – Free Practice 3: Norris ahead of Leclerc and Russell

Few people at the beginning of the third practice session. After ten minutes, only five drivers on track. Charles Leclerc is one of them: the Monegasque has laps to make up after his crash in the first session, which prevented him from taking part in the second. One last session before the qualifying at 10 PM. Time for each driver to get their last bearings and approach the limit.

Several erasers at the beginning of the session

In these first minutes, the soft and medium tires are prioritized. The mid-grid teams, like Aston Martin, Alpine, and Racing Bulls, are on red tires. The top teams, McLaren and Ferrari in particular, are starting their work on yellow tires.

A pneumatic analysis stopped by a red flag caused by Oscar Piastri. The Australian clipped the Wall of Champions (the last corner) with his right rear wheel. The result was a puncture, a broken rim, and a lot of debris on the track. The leader of the world championship returns to the pit.

The leaders accelerate

At mid-session, Mercedes, Red Bull, McLaren, and Red Bull go on the attack. Best time for Russell on soft tires, ahead of Norris and Leclerc, still on mediums.

Alexander Albon and Isack Hadjar also perform well on red tires with 5th and 6th fastest times twenty minutes from the end of this final session.

Lewis Hamilton shows his speed. The seven-time world champion takes the fastest time on medium tires. These are tires that work well on this track.

Fifteen minutes from the end, the drivers switch to qualifying mode to prepare for the 10 PM session. On the first lap, it’s Lando Norris who is the fastest: 0.151 ahead of George Russell. Oscar Piastri struggles a bit to string everything together at the end of this session, placing sixth more than seven-tenths behind. The Ferraris also slow down slightly: Hamilton is third (+0.251) and Leclerc fifth (+0.518).

At the bottom of the standings, Alpine is still in difficulty. Both are more than a second behind Lando Norris. The same goes for Sauber. Yuki Tsunoda is also unable to find rhythm in his Red Bull. The Japanese driver is last in this session.

At the very end of the session, Charles Leclerc takes the second-fastest time on a final flying lap. Less than a tenth of a second separates him from Lando Norris. The Briton maintains the lead of this session. Notable is Fernando Alonso’s very good sixth place, having extracted the best from his Aston Martin. The qualifying promises to be close. See you at 10 PM.

The session ranking: