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Dutch GP
F1 Dutch GP Live Commentary and Updates - FP3 and Qualifying
Saturday's action from the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort
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Over lunch we watched the highlights of the 1985 Dutch GP and what was remarkable was that despite all the updates to Zandvoort the circuit's appearance and visual layout looks largely unchanged. It's a track with great character.
Green flag
Good afternoon! Qualifying for the Dutch GP is just 15 minutes away. Who's excited?
How much pace do we think Mercedes still has up its sleeve? How much was Verstappen's tow from Perez worth? And can Sainz's Ferrari be repaired? All questions that will be answered this afternoon in qualifying, which gets underway at 2pm UK time this afternoon. We'll see you then!
If you missed any of the action from FP3, we've got you covered. Here's the full report, as Verstappen laid down the gauntlet for Mercedes: https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/f1-dutch-gp-verstappen-tops-final-practice-from-bottas-and-hamilton/6660102/
Williams says CEO Jost Capito will stay away from the paddock after a socially-distanced meeting with Raikkonen yesterday as a precaution, despite testing negative for COVID.
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As for the battle to reach Q3, that's anybody's guess with the midfield so tightly bunched. With such a short laptime, losing ground anywhere will be costly so - as ever - it will be critical that all of the sectors are hooked up.
Hamilton recovered well from losing most of FP2, but Bottas still had 0.2s in-hand in the Mercedes battle. Will the seven-time champion be able to overturn the status quo come qualifying?
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Well, we'd thought that a Ferrari 1-2 with Verstappen down in fifth wasn't totally representative of the order. And what a difference a day makes - Verstappen was quickest by half a second, while Leclerc (P9) and Sainz (P16 after his strange Turn 3 crash caused the red flag) have some work to do.
Checkered flag
The checkered flag is out, that's it for FP3 as Verstappen takes top spot by a convincing margin.
Mazepin has now lifted himself above Kubica into P19, with Schumacher rooted to the bottom of the times after his earlier off.
Leclerc is the latest driver to be caught out at Turn 11, opting to take the escape road and rejoining by skirting around the back of the gravel bed.
In order, that bunch comprises Alonso, Norris, Stroll, Vettel, Leclerc, Gasly, Ricciardo, Latifi, Ocon, Russell and Giovinazzi.
Behind the Red Bull and Mercedes, the battle to be the best of the rest appears finely poised heading into qualifying. Alonso is fifth, 1s off Verstappen, but there's just half a second back to Giovinazzi in P15!
Schumacher had set a personal best first sector, but now straightlines the Turn 11-12 complex via the gravel after a big snap of oversteer on the approach to the right-hander - which he reports was caused by a "massive tailwind there". The tricky Zandvoort circuit continues to catch drivers out.
A quick lap from Stroll puts him in P7 - just ahead of his team-mate. Aston would certainly settle for having two cars in the top 10 after Vettel's nightmare start in FP1 yesterday.
Sainz has slipped down to P16 in the standings after improvements elsewhere. Behind him are Tsunoda - who missed virtually all of FP1 to a car issue - returnee Kubica and the two Haas drivers, Schumacher ahead of Mazepin.
With his own soft tyre effort, Perez goes fourth on a 1m10.526s.
"I guess last sector won't get any better than that in terms of a tow," says a chuffed Verstappen - who had Perez right in front of him as he crossed the line.
But with a statement lap, Verstappen goes quickest of all on a 1m09.623s - that's a whopping 0.556s quicker than Bottas.
And just like that, it's 2020 all over again as Mercedes once again sit 1-2. It's been a fairly quiet session so far for Hamilton, but his 1m10.417s puts him second - albeit two tenths slower than Bottas on a 1m10.179s.
Anybody else missing the constant track limits updates? Me neither.
More progress for Kubica, who lifts himself off the bottom of the leaderboard with a 1m12.561s to go P18 for now.
Ricciardo now goes fourth on softs with a 1m11.013s to shunt Ocon down a place, while Russell fires up to P7 on a 1m11.274s for Williams.
He had a slight moment of rear instability on corner entry and then slid straight on into the gravel, which again punishes the minor error. No real harm done though, as he gets back out again unaided - unlike Mazepin yesterday.
Crash
Whoops - Norris has had an off at Turn 9.
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"I think I had a deployment problem in [Turn] 7," reports Ocon. "Okay, we'll have a look," his engineer replies.
Ocon also punches in a quick lap on softs, but is half a second down on team-mate Alonso in P4.
Alfa Romeo stand-in Kubica is inching closer towards the pace, but is currently 2.9s off the pace. His best lap so far is a 1m13.633s.
Alonso now winds up a lap on softs and sets the fastest first sector of anybody to go fastest once again on a 1m10.670s. Norris also improves, but stays third behind Verstappen on a 1m10.781s.
The Haas drivers are currently in the giddy heights of the midfield, with Schumacher P13 and Mazepin P15. Both have used softs though.
Interesting to note: Verstappen's time was on the medium, while Norris was on the soft.
Now Verstappen improves to go fastest - to the delight of the Dutch fans, it's a 1m10.702s for the Red Bull man, as Norris goes second on a 1m11.119s.
Hamilton is down to P9 at the moment, still running on softs, setting times in the 1m15-16s bracket presumably trying out higher fuel loads for the race start.
Gasly is another big improver, he's up to third on a 1m11.636s for AlphaTauri, with pre-red flag top three Alonso, Leclerc and Perez shuffled down to P4, P5 and P6 respectively.
Verstappen nails his first sector which is the fastest of all - but falls 0.008s short of the top spot as Bottas goes purple in sectors two and three to top the times on a 1m11.217s.
Another very odd moment for Vettel, who has a slow speed oversteer moment at the banked Turn 3 and has to chase his Aston up the track. He's never going fast enough to warrant a shunt, but something clearly not quite right with the balance in the four-time world champion's car today.
Verstappen is out for the first time in the session, which gets the crowds going. He's on the mediums.
Green flag
With a little under half an hour to go, we're back underway again.
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