Zandvoort is soaking wet due to heavy rain that is set to hang around for much of today, so final practice will definitely be wet and there is a good chance it'll be the same for qualifying. The weather very much reflecting Ricciardo's mood.
With Ricciardo out, it is a huge day for Lawson. He needs to get up to speed immediately, having never driven this AlphaTauri F1 car before, and he has just one practice session, in the wet, to get up to speed. Good luck, Liam.
By coincidence, this scenario unfolded almost exactly a year ago. When Albon was forced out after Friday at the Italian GP, de Vries got the call-up and impressed at Williams enough to get a drive at AlphaTauri for this year. That was until he was axed after 10 races and replaced by Ricciardo...
Amid all of that, it was Norris who topped the dry Friday running from Verstappen, but that data will count for little today given it is soaking wet and very chilly.
The F1 graphics team have been busy since FP2 too, given they've got a Lawson AlphaTauri banner above his garage and on the screen in the correct gear. Handy. Anyway, FP3 is under way.
Verstappen, almost at the will of his home fans, unusually heads out early in the session to be the first to test the conditions. From memory this is the first wet session at Zandvoort since F1 returned in 2021.
It wasn't a puddle but a white line at the top of Turn 3 that sends Verstappen into a slide and he does well to avoid drifting into the barriers. Norris has also gone off track, this time at Turn 11, but no harm done.
There are plenty of cars of track trying conditions now, as Perez suffers the same fate as Norris at Turn 11, but keeps clear of the walls as he bounces over the gravel.
The Danish Haas driver was on his first out-lap of the session and he drops the car under power through the banked Turn 3. It sends the rear of his car into the wall and the impact is enough to make sure that car is going nowhere.
Worse news for Haas is Magnussen has damaged the team's new parts, right after Hulkenberg biffed his new front wing in first practice. Speaking to Sky Sports F1, Steiner says he is "pissed off" at that out-lap crash. Time to call Gene.
Matt Kew is back for more Turn 3 insights: "Everyone seemed to settle on a high line through the banked Turn 3 last season. But this intermittent rain has seemingly turned the clock back to 2021, when drivers were continuously experimenting.
"Verstappen is confident to run high around the top of the bowl, Hamilton sticks to the middle of the road. Leclerc doesn’t appear to have the luxury of choice. Barrels of understeer into the corner, lots of oversteer on exit."
Zhou is OK as he hops out of his car, he avoided any barriers so it is just gravel and pride damage that he has suffered. The crane is readied to fling his Alfa Romeo into orbit and out of harm's way.
Due to the tight track, Zandvoort needs cranes to extract cars that have stopped, much like you see at Monaco. So that means we're all getting a good look at the car floors. So far this weekend we've seen Haas (twice), McLaren, AlphaTauri and now Alfa Romeo.
These red flags will be frustrating Lawson most of all given he needs the track time. He leads the lap tally on 11, but has also seen half of the session fly by.
Tsunoda is already asking for inter tyres again, showing the very fine working window of these wet tyres. It is only really useful for heavy rain conditions before a red flag is called for due to too much standing water.
Norris replies to his team-mate's time to go top again with a 1m23.677s - 1.2s quicker than Piastri. Verstappen is back out on track so what can he do in response?
Lawson dropped the car on power out of Turn 13, sending him around heading towards the final corner, and he kissed the inside barrier with his front wing. No major damage done as he is able to spin the car around and make it to the pits.
