Charles Leclerc edged championship rival Max Verstappen to lead the way into final practice for the Spanish Grand Prix as Mercedes continued to show new pace.
Championship leader Leclerc clocked 1m 19.772s at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya during his run on fuel-efficient soft tires to end the 60-minute session less than a tenth of a second behind. ahead of Verstappen.
George Russell edged seven-time world champion team-mate Lewis Hamilton into third place, with Mercedes 0.2 seconds off the fastest time.
READ MORE: ‘I’m not missing much’ – Sainz doesn’t mind qualifying deficit to Leclerc so far in 2022
The Silver Arrows have brought a series of upgrades to Spain – and they seem to have found a solution to eradicate porpoising, which has made them much more competitive on the straights.
Home favorite Carlos Sainz finished fifth, ahead of Sergio Perez, the top six riding on two sets of soft tires and less than half a second apart on an unusually hot day in Barcelona.
|
1 Charles Leclerc LEC Ferrari |
1:19.772 |
|
2 Max Verstappen WORM Running of the red bulls |
+0.072s |
|
3 george Russell RUS mercedes |
+0.148s |
|
4 lewis hamilton HAM mercedes |
+0.230s |
|
5 carlos sainz SAI Ferrari |
+0.357s |
Lando Norris, who was doing the full upgrade after his McLaren team completed repairs to its damaged pavement on a pavement on Friday, finished seventh, with Kevin Magniussen the Haas leader in eighth.
Valtteri Bottas, in a heavily updated Alfa Romeo, finished ninth as Alpine’s Esteban Ocon completed the top 10.
Daniel Ricciardo was P11 and half a second behind McLaren teammate Norris, with Sebastian Vettel placing the vastly improved Aston Martin AMR22 12th.
WATCH: The major upgrades that got everyone talking in Spain – including Aston Martin’s vastly updated AMR22
FP3 Highlights: Spanish Grand Prix
Fernando Alonso, riding in front of a huge home crowd, finished 13th, ahead of Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu and Yuki Tsunoda in the AlphaTauri. Lance Stroll was 0.5s behind teammate Vettel in 16th with Alex Albon the Williams leader in 17th, nearly a second clear of team-mate Nicholas Latifi.
Mick Schumacher’s session ended prematurely after a brake light (above), with the German having only completed four laps in his Haas, who are the only team not to bring Spain an upgrade . The team undergoes a gearbox change as a precaution and aims to get Schumacher out in time for qualifying at 4:00 p.m. local time.
Pierre Gasly failed to set a lap time as his AlphaTauri team discovered a problem with his car after his setup lap which could not be resolved before the end of the session.
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