Max Verstappen topped the times in third practice by setting the quickest time all weekend ahead of qualifying for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
The Red Bull was quickest by two tenths of a second ahead of championship rival Lewis Hamilton.Drivers headed out into the twilight for the second and final time before qualifying. This afternoon’s session and tomorrow’s race will take place entirely under the floodlights around the Jeddah Corniche Circuit.
Having set the pace on Friday, Mercedes sent both Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas out on hard tyres in the early phase of the session, while Red Bull opted to run on the soft tyres instead.
Hamilton set the early benchmark with a 1’29.605, but brought out the yellow flag briefly when he locked up under braking for the first turn and ran off to the escape road, having to spin around to recover back onto the circuit.
Verstappen improved to go quickest of all with a 1’28.105 – comfortably the fastest time of the weekend so far. Lance Stroll had to abandon one of his run when he was told he had a puncture on his Aston Martin. He pitted and was able to continue.
With many drivers having expressed concerns about the impact of traffic in qualifying after Friday’s running, there were multiple near-misses involving championship contender Hamilton.
Nikita Mazepin had to take sudden avoiding action as he rounded the fast turn seven and eight to find Hamilton cruising on the apex ahead. Mercedes had warned Hamilton of the Haas approaching, but it was too late for him to react.
FIA F1 race director Michael Masi was heard being asked by the Haas team for his thoughts on the incident. He told them he shared their concerns although accepted that neither driver had received warning flags from the marshals before the almost-collision.
Hamilton was then involved in a second incident with Pierre Gasly, who began a flying lap only to find the Mercedes driver sitting on the racing line at the braking zone. Gasly immediately abandoned the lap.
In the closing minutes of the session, Verstappen shaved five thousandths of a second off his best time to go two tenths faster than his title rival’s best time, with Sergio Perez taking third in the second Red Bull.
The two AlphaTauris went fourth and fifth fastest, with Yuki Tsunoda just ahead of team mate Gasly. Valtteri Bottas was sixth in the second Mercedes, followed by the two Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz Jnr.
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2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix third practice result
Third practice visual gaps
Max Verstappen – 1’28.100
+0.214 Lewis Hamilton – 1’28.314
+0.529 Sergio Perez – 1’28.629
+0.541 Yuki Tsunoda – 1’28.641
+0.615 Pierre Gasly – 1’28.715
+0.919 Valtteri Bottas – 1’29.019
+1.001 Charles Leclerc – 1’29.101
+1.049 Carlos Sainz Jnr – 1’29.149
+1.077 Esteban Ocon – 1’29.177
+1.200 Lando Norris – 1’29.300
+1.318 Fernando Alonso – 1’29.418
+1.490 Antonio Giovinazzi – 1’29.590
+1.589 Kimi Raikkonen – 1’29.689
+1.617 Daniel Ricciardo – 1’29.717
+1.930 Lance Stroll – 1’30.030
+1.934 George Russell – 1’30.034
+2.196 Sebastian Vettel – 1’30.296
+2.266 Nicholas Latifi – 1’30.366
+2.833 Mick Schumacher – 1’30.933
+2.879 Nikita Mazepin – 1’30.979
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 | 1’29.842 | 1’29.213 | 1’28.100 | -1.113 | 62 |
| 2 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’29.786 | 1’29.018 | 1’28.314 | -0.704 | 65 |
| 3 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull-Honda | 1’30.960 | 1’29.768 | 1’28.629 | -1.139 | 69 |
| 4 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri-Honda | 1’31.099 | 1’29.597 | 1’28.641 | -0.956 | 65 |
| 5 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri-Honda | 1’30.263 | 1’29.099 | 1’28.715 | -0.384 | 71 |
| 6 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1’30.009 | 1’29.079 | 1’29.019 | -0.06 | 65 |
| 7 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1’30.600 | 1’29.772 | 1’29.101 | -0.671 | 71 |
| 8 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Ferrari | 1’30.564 | 1’29.589 | 1’29.149 | -0.44 | 68 |
| 9 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine-Renault | 1’31.023 | 1’29.555 | 1’29.177 | -0.378 | 69 |
| 10 | Lando Norris | McLaren-Mercedes | 1’31.029 | 1’30.004 | 1’29.300 | -0.704 | 59 |
| 11 | Fernando Alonso | Alpine-Renault | 1’30.842 | 1’29.441 | 1’29.418 | -0.023 | 68 |
| 12 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 1’30.318 | 1’30.110 | 1’29.590 | -0.52 | 69 |
| 13 | Kimi Raikkonen | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 1’31.296 | 1’30.276 | 1’29.689 | -0.587 | 73 |
| 14 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren-Mercedes | 1’30.608 | 1’29.968 | 1’29.717 | -0.251 | 65 |
| 15 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin-Mercedes | 1’31.044 | 1’30.442 | 1’30.030 | -0.412 | 60 |
| 16 | George Russell | Williams-Mercedes | 1’31.343 | 1’30.506 | 1’30.034 | -0.472 | 68 |
| 17 | Sebastian Vettel | Aston Martin-Mercedes | 1’30.886 | 1’30.502 | 1’30.296 | -0.206 | 61 |
| 18 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams-Mercedes | 1’31.821 | 1’31.039 | 1’30.366 | -0.673 | 66 |
| 19 | Mick Schumacher | Haas-Ferrari | 1’31.525 | 1’30.652 | 1’30.933 | +0.281 | 63 |
| 20 | Nikita Mazepin | Haas-Ferrari | 1’33.464 | 1’31.629 | 1’30.979 | -0.65 | 65 |
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2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix
- Analysis: Is Jeddah circuit’s layout fit for F1 or a “recipe for disaster”?
- Hamilton closes on another Schumacher record with first ‘hat-trick’ of 2021
- How Hamilton and Verstappen’s roughest scrap yet played out on the radio
- Brawn defends Masi following criticism of Saudi Arabian GP decisions
- F1 drivers want safety changes to Jeddah’s “Suzuka with walls” layout
BasCB (@bascb)
4th December 2021, 15:35
The incident with Mazepin was really scary to watch, especially when you see it enfolding from his on board camera. He is at full speed and then suddenly finds Hamilton dawdling bang on the middle of the racing line. He slipped through that runoff and between the Mercedes and the wall there by a small margin.
Srdjan Mandic (@srga91)
4th December 2021, 15:39
The soft is still very difficult to get to work properly, especially through S2. I guess every team except Alfa Romeo, Williams, Aston Martin and Haas will run mediums in Q2 and some might even run them in Q3.
I wonder if Mercedes were just struggling on the softs or if they actually turned their engines down a bit for their second run. S2 is mostly power limited and it just seems weird for Mercedes to lose 0.3 there just because of the tyre.
BasCB (@bascb)
4th December 2021, 15:44
good point about S2 there @srga91.
mrthegoat
4th December 2021, 15:43
Todays practice is showing that qualifying will be spectacular, if not very dangerous.
Hamilton was not personally to blame for the Mazepin accident imo, but should have been updated by his team in a better way. All he heard from the team was “next car is Mazepin”.
The Gasly incident however, I think here Hamilton could and should have done more. He was again fully on racing line, and in replay you could see him checking his mirrors. He must have seen Gasly here, as he was right behind him. Very strange action of Lewis here.
Nevertheless, let’s hope for no penalties. The battle should be fought on track and not in stewards room. RB and Mercs look like having same pace here, let’s see how it unfolds!