Dutch Grand Prix – Red Bull’s Max Verstappen has topped final practice ahead of qualifying for his home race.
The Dutchman set a time of 1:09.623 aided by a timely tow from his teammate, and was a full half second faster than second placed man Valtteri Bottas in the Mercedes. Lewis Hamilton and championship leader was in third in the other Mercedes.
Drivers were keen to get out on track due to both free practice one and two being shortened because of red flags. However, the red flags came out again for Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz at the 40 minute mark.
The Ferrari driver lost the rear at Turn 2 and slammed into the barriers causing heavy damage to his SF21. The team will have a lot of work to do ahead of qualifying later on Saturday, and it will come as a blow to the team after strong performances on Friday. The 27-year-old ended the session 16th fastest.
After a quick clean up, the session resumed around the 30 minute mark with drivers pouring onto the track to make the most of the remaining running.
Click here to view the full results from free practice three.
Sergio Perez was nearly a second off his teammate’s time down in fourth place with Alpine’s Fernando Alonso in fifth.
McLaren’s Lando Norris was in sixth place ahead of the two Aston Martin cars of Lance Stroll and Sebastian Vettel.
Vettel took a snap of oversteer in Turn 10 and took to the grass and managed to keep it out of the barriers. He finished down in eighth place.
The other Ferrari of Charles Leclerc was in ninth ahead of Pierre Gasly in the AlphaTauri in tenth.
Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Raikkonen didn’t take part in the session and will take no further part all weekend. The Finn received a positive COVID-19 test result and as such as been replaced by Robert Kubica. The Polish driver finished down in 19th.
