McLaren’s Oscar Piastri broke Ferrari’s streak at the top of the timesheets during the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix weekend by setting the fastest time in the third and final practice session. Piastri led the session, followed by Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz, in an hour that saw two red flags.
As the session began in warm and bright conditions, Norris led a group of drivers onto the track. The wind had calmed down somewhat after causing difficulties on Friday.
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Among the early runners were Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez. The team had made setup adjustments to the RB20 overnight, addressing balance issues experienced during FP1 and FP2.
Meanwhile, Ferrari fitted soft tyres for their initial laps in preparation for qualifying, with Charles Leclerc initially setting the pace with a lap time of 1m 16.281s.
While some drivers chose to stay in the pits at the start of FP3, lap times began to drop as more cars joined the action. The session was interrupted when Fernando Alonso lost control at Rivazza and crashed into the barriers.
Fortunately, Alonso emerged unharmed, but his Aston Martin required significant attention as red flags were thrown to clear the track. The session resumed just past the halfway mark, with a queue of cars in the pit lane eagerly awaiting the green light.
As the final laps were being completed in a busy end to the session, Sergio Perez crashed into the wall at Turn 15, causing another red flag. The Mexican driver was unharmed, and the car was quickly removed, allowing the session to resume with only two minutes remaining.
This led to a frantic scramble to get back on track, with some drivers missing the chance to set a final lap. Oscar Piastri finished FP3 in P1 with a time of 1m 15.529s, three-tenths ahead of McLaren teammate Lando Norris in second. Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc followed for Ferrari in third and fourth.
George Russell was the top Mercedes in fifth, with Max Verstappen in sixth. Alex Albon had a strong session for Williams, finishing seventh. Esteban Ocon (Alpine), Lance Stroll (Aston Martin), and Nico Hulkenberg (Haas) completed the top ten.
Daniel Ricciardo was 11th for RB, with Perez ending up 12th after his crash. Yuki Tsunoda (RB) was 13th, followed by Valtteri Bottas (Kick Sauber) in 14th and Logan Sargeant (Williams) in 15th.
Kevin Magnussen (Haas) finished 16th, ahead of Lewis Hamilton in 17th, who had issues with his Mercedes’ ride height. Alonso was 18th following his incident, with Pierre Gasly (Alpine) and Zhou Guanyu (Kick Sauber) rounding out the order in 19th and 20th.
Emilia Romagna GP FP3 Results
2024 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix FP3, 18 May 2024
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