Max Verstappen has made a huge impression in FP3, beating Lewis Hamilton by over 0.7s. It seems the championship may be all to play for as the teams now prepare for qualifying.
Red Bull get the measure of Mercedes
Despite both Mercedes temporarily topping the times, Red Bull fought back to make it a hat-trick of practice ‘victories’. Despite a mega lap, Verstappen and Red Bull appear to still have a bit more on the table. While Mercedes are expected to pick up the pace, the pre-season predictions seem to be coming to fruition.
It was less of a successful session for the team-mates of the top 2, Bottas finished 4th, 0.5s away from Hamilton. Perez was one place behind in 5th, but 1.3s away from Verstappen.
The midfield mix-up
3rd was occupied by the impressive Gasly, but he was unable to get within 1s of the pace setter. Tsunoda was unable to replicate this performance, 1.1s away from his team-mate and down in 13th.
Sainz continued Ferrari’s resurgence with a strong 6th placed finish. Leclerc could only manage 11th, but his fastest time was set on the Medium tyre. Raikkonen surprised with 7th, while Giovinazzi managed 12th, dovetailing a reasonably strong practice outing for Alfa Romeo. Ocon was the highest of the Alpine pair, a respectable 8th, while Alonso struggled with his brakes, languishing in 15th.
McLaren’s strong pace from yesterday was not as evident today. Ricciardo was highest placed in 9th, while Norris fell from the top 3 to 16th. The calm attitude on the pit wall suggests that this may have been intended. Aston Martin still don’t look entirely comfortable, Stroll and Vettel finished 9th and 14th respectively.
Back of the Grid
It was business as usual for the two backmarker teams. Russell finished top dog in 17th, but both Haas cars managed to leapfrog Latifi, with Schumacher beating Mazepin for the third successive session.
With qualifying just around the corner, the 2021 pecking order will finally be revealed. Will it be advantage Red Bull, or have Mercedes managed the ultimate sand-bagging maneuver?
Feature Image Credit @redbullracing Official Twitter Account
