By: After a Friday dominated by Mercedes, the third free practice session once again played a crucial role in preparation for qualifying.
Green light
When the lights went out to signal the start of the session, Pierre Gasly was the only driver to take to the track in the opening minutes, followed shortly afterwards by Perez in the Cadillac. The other teams, including Ferrari, then began their running in the early stages.
The Maranello team took to the track on soft tyres for qualifying simulation runs. Leclerc did not complete a timed lap on his first attempt due to traffic in the second sector, while Hamilton briefly set the fastest time before being beaten by the Monegasque driver himself.
The importance of the slipstream at this circuit must be underlined, as demonstrated by Verstappen, who used it to set the fastest time.
Another point to note is that, while Ferrari chose the soft tyre, Mercedes, like all the other teams, fitted the medium compound. First Kimi Antonelli and then Russell set the benchmark times.
With around 20 minutes remaining, the wind gusts intensified, making the cars unstable. As a result, many drivers complained and ran into the escape roads, including Leclerc, Verstappen, Hamilton, Antonelli and several others.
At that point, all those who had opted for the medium tyre returned to the pits to fit the softs. The first to set a significant time was Russell, with a 1:44.177, followed by Antonelli, more than half a second behind the Englishman.
Max Verstappen then began his run, initially managing no better than fifth. However, the Dutchman opted for another attempt and went second, just one tenth behind Russell.
With less than a minute remaining, Verstappen set the fastest time of the session with a 1:43.922, also coming close to making contact with the barriers on the lap that took him to the top of the timesheets.
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