F1 Saudi Arabia FP3: Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc tops final practice
26th March 2022Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc topped the timing board in the final practice session in Saudi Arabia, on his final lap of FP3, 0.033 seconds faster than Red Bull’s reigning world champion Max Verstappen.
How the final practice session unfolded…
Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas was the first driver to venture onto the track as the pit exit light went green, followed by Haas’ Kevin Magnussen who had limited running yesterday after reliability issues.
The championship leader, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, topped the timing board after 10 minutes as he set the first lap time with a 1:53.016. But, the Ferrari duo of Leclerc and Carlos Sainz soon beat that time, with the latter on top with a 1:31.011. Both drivers set their times on the soft, red-ringed, compound tyres.
While Bottas and McLaren’s Lando Norris joined the Ferrari duo, in setting a lap time, Leclerc jumped to the top of the timing board – ahead of his teammate – with a 1:30.139.
Despite a purple middle sector, Red Bull’s Sergio Perez could only manage P2 with a 1:30.291 – 0.152 seconds slower than Leclerc. However, the reigning world champion, Max Verstappen set the quickest second sector he but could only manage P4, behind Sainz on the timing board, with 30 minutes left on the clock.
Alpha Tauri joined the fold as the session reached the half-an-hour mark with Pierre Gasly in P2, 0.009 seconds slower than Leclerc, while Yuki Tsunoda popped up into P5 and put himself between Sainz (P4) and Verstappen (P5).
Halfway down the pit exit, with 22 minutes left on the clock, Gasly was forced to push his car back to the pit lane after the French driver reported a suspected issue with the driveshaft.
With less than 20 minutes to go, all 20 drivers had managed to complete a timed lap with Verstappen on top, improving his previous time, with a 1:29.768 lap. While Bottas put his Alfa Romeo second, 0.262 seconds slower than Verstappen. While the Williams of Nicholas Latifi sat at the bottom of the board two seconds behind the pace.
All 20 drivers set their fastest time on the soft tyres.
While the Red Bull duo topped the timing sheets, Verstappen and Perez respectively, Leclerc set a purple first sector and finished his flying lap 0.111 seconds off the pace – in P3. However, in his final flying lap of the practice session, Leclerc set the quickest time with a 1:29.735, 0.033 seconds faster than Verstappen.
That’s it for the article: ‘F1 Saudi Arabia FP3: Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc tops final practice.’ Who do you think will top qualifying later on today? Let us know in the comments!
Read more Formula One here!
- F1: 2022 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix Preview
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- F1 2022 Bahrain Grand Prix: Max Verstappen tops final practice session
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Hi, I’m Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion.
I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I’ve loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
Kamron Kent
Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.