The two Red Bulls of Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez finished atop the timings after a wet final practice session ahead of qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix.
Verstappen set the fastest time on intermediate tyres, ahead of team mate Perez and championship leader Lewis Hamilton having set the third-fastest time in the session.It was a wet hour of running for the drivers, following a heavy downpour earlier in the morning that had delayed the start of the Formula 3 race scheduled prior to the start of final practice. Intermediates were the tyres of choice for the majority of the grid, with a number of drivers sliding wide as they tried to get to grips with the damp Spa surface.
Verstappen and Perez set the quickest times at the midway point of the session. Daniel Ricciardo was warned that the rain would continue to fall throughout the second half of the session – a prophecy that proved to be an accurate one.
Kimi Raikkonen’s running was heavily curtailed when the Alfa Romeo driver trundled back to the pit lane while complaining of brake failure midway through the session. He was unable to get back out onto the circuit during the remainder of the session.
Despite the cars clearing a significant amount of standing water off the Spa track surface, the consistent rain meant that the circuit did not reach a threshold where dry tyres were a viable option for the drivers.
Pierre Gasly had a late scare when he spun his AlphaTauri on the exit of Stavelot on the slippery kerbs. Despite pitching the car a full 180 degrees, Gasly managed to avoid making contact with the barriers and recovered to continue without significant damage to his car.
In the closing minutes, McLaren opted to send Lando Norris out on soft dry tyres. Norris struggled for any traction on his single lap, before immediately bailing back to the safety of the pitlane.
As the chequered flag flew, Verstappen’s early benchmark of a 1’56.924 was good enough to see him finish top of the timings and bounce back from an abrupt end to his Friday running with his late-session shunt in second practice.
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2021 Belgian Grand Prix third practice result
Third practice visual gaps
Max Verstappen – 1’56.924
+0.947 Sergio Perez – 1’57.871
+1.072 Lewis Hamilton – 1’57.996
+1.585 Lando Norris – 1’58.509
+1.989 Esteban Ocon – 1’58.913
+2.281 Lance Stroll – 1’59.205
+2.400 Pierre Gasly – 1’59.324
+2.512 Sebastian Vettel – 1’59.436
+2.568 George Russell – 1’59.492
+2.689 Fernando Alonso – 1’59.613
+2.884 Valtteri Bottas – 1’59.808
+3.057 Nicholas Latifi – 1’59.981
+3.532 Daniel Ricciardo – 2’00.456
+3.825 Carlos Sainz Jnr – 2’00.749
+4.345 Mick Schumacher – 2’01.269
+4.446 Charles Leclerc – 2’01.370
+4.586 Yuki Tsunoda – 2’01.510
+4.588 Antonio Giovinazzi – 2’01.512
+4.868 Nikita Mazepin – 2’01.792
+7.458 Kimi Raikkonen – 2’04.382
Drivers more then ten seconds off the pace omitted.
| Pos | Driver | Car | FP1 | FP2 | FP3 | Fri/Sat diff | Total laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull-Honda | 1’45.363 | 1’44.472 | 1’56.924 | +12.452 | 36 |
| 2 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1’45.199 | 1’44.513 | 1’59.808 | +15.295 | 46 |
| 3 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’48.224 | 1’44.544 | 1’57.996 | +13.452 | 39 |
| 4 | Fernando Alonso | Alpine-Renault | 1’46.612 | 1’44.953 | 1’59.613 | +14.66 | 47 |
| 5 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri-Honda | 1’45.699 | 1’44.965 | 1’59.324 | +14.359 | 51 |
| 6 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin-Mercedes | 1’46.649 | 1’45.180 | 1’59.205 | +14.025 | 49 |
| 7 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine-Renault | 1’46.497 | 1’45.302 | 1’58.913 | +13.611 | 46 |
| 8 | Sebastian Vettel | Aston Martin-Mercedes | 1’46.177 | 1’45.336 | 1’59.436 | +14.1 | 50 |
| 9 | Lando Norris | McLaren-Mercedes | 1’46.336 | 1’45.386 | 1’58.509 | +13.123 | 46 |
| 10 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull-Honda | 1’46.127 | 1’45.404 | 1’57.871 | +12.467 | 37 |
| 11 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Ferrari | 1’45.935 | 1’45.517 | 2’00.749 | +15.232 | 51 |
| 12 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri-Honda | 1’46.928 | 1’45.758 | 2’01.510 | +15.752 | 56 |
| 13 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 1’46.755 | 1’45.789 | 2’01.512 | +15.723 | 53 |
| 14 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1’45.818 | 1’46.836 | 2’01.370 | +15.552 | 46 |
| 15 | Kimi Raikkonen | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 1’48.125 | 1’45.967 | 2’04.382 | +18.415 | 36 |
| 16 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren-Mercedes | 1’46.683 | 1’46.118 | 2’00.456 | +14.338 | 47 |
| 17 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams-Mercedes | 1’47.101 | 1’46.198 | 1’59.981 | +13.783 | 48 |
| 18 | George Russell | Williams-Mercedes | 1’46.772 | 1’46.665 | 1’59.492 | +12.827 | 42 |
| 19 | Nikita Mazepin | Haas-Ferrari | 1’48.705 | 1’47.335 | 2’01.792 | +14.457 | 49 |
| 20 | Mick Schumacher | Haas-Ferrari | 1’49.059 | 1’47.529 | 2’01.269 | +13.74 | 48 |
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2021 Belgian Grand Prix
- Spa spectators who saw no racing offered prize draw for 2022 tickets
- Honda reveal details of Verstappen’s Spa power unit upgrade
- Ocon congratulated by past French F1 aces after breakthrough win
- ‘Wrong to award points for a couple of laps behind the Safety Car’ – Horner
- Hamilton offers “exclusive gift” to fans who attended Belgian GP wash-out
BlueChris (@bluechris)
28th August 2021, 12:16
Do we have a good weather prediction for qual and race?
bosyber (@bosyber)
28th August 2021, 12:30
Quali looks to be a lot wetter (lots of rain expected until then I think); race, since it is Spa, probably wettish, but who knows?
Patrick (@paeschli)
28th August 2021, 12:35
Weather is absolutely miserable at the track right now, and exegetes to remain like that until quali
F1 frog (@f1frog)
28th August 2021, 12:19
Looking forward to what will surely be a fantastic qualifying session in mixed conditions (as long as it doesn’t get constantly wetter over the course of qualifying). In the wet, my money would be on Hamilton for pole, but Verstappen has a very good chance too.
I thought the conversation about Vettel’s disqualification went on a bit too long, and I certainly agree with Paul Di Resta. If they need one litre of fuel, they should imagine that they have one litre of fuel fewer than they actually do have. And if they end up with less than a litre then they have run out of fuel. If the fuel pressure system failed, the situation should be seen as equivalent to a car failure causing Vettel to run out of fuel on the final lap.
DeanR
28th August 2021, 12:54
Max looking good again. Rain will likely favour RB cars but who knows with Merc? The weather will ensure a great qualy session, that’s for sure.
Dave
29th August 2021, 12:22
Reply button: Placed left
Report Comment button: Placed right
Omar R (@)
28th August 2021, 13:02
Bottas might be getting ready to create another big bowling strike.
BasCB (@bascb)
28th August 2021, 13:36
This time he will be starting quite a bit further back, so he might actually hit a 10 @omarr-pepper!
Seriously, I doubt Bottas will do much more than slip back from starting somewhere top 8 and then gradually climb up to about p5-7 in the race as his car pace allows him to get past a few guys.
melanos
28th August 2021, 14:06
The lenghts some go for a renewal
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
28th August 2021, 20:11
Ahah, indeed! Btw, bascb, don’t forget bottas has a 5 places grid penalty, he can’t start in the top 8!