F1 Saudi Arabian GP Live Commentary and Updates - FP3 and Qualifying
Saturday's Formula 1 action from the Jeddah Corniche Circuit
Max Verstappen took a clean sweep of top spot in Friday’s two practice sessions, with Red Bull looking dominant once again after its 1-2 in the Bahrain Grand Prix opener.
All eyes will be on what its rivals can do in response at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, and whether Aston Martin can maintain its surprise start having seen Fernando Alonso finish on the podium in the opener.
Charles Leclerc goes into the Saudi race with a 10-place grid penalty due to taking his third set of control electronics for his Ferrari after his Bahrain retirement.
Saudi Arabian GP final practice begins at 1:30pm GMT followed by qualifying at 5:00pm GMT to decide the starting grid for the race on Sunday at 5:00pm GMT.
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Meanwhile Hulkenberg goes fifth on a 1m29.933s, just ahead of Piastri who leaps up to sixth on a 1m30.029s. Russell is one hundredth behind the McLaren man in seventh.
Aston Martin has now shown its hand. Alonso goes third on a 1m29.568s and Stroll follows him in fifth, although both are bumped down a spot as 2021 Saudi winner Hamilton goes third on a 1m29.568s.
Stopwatch
And we have a new fastest time of all. No surprises it comes from a Red Bull as Verstappen takes the softs for the first time in the session and uses them to good effect. It's a 1m28.756s, putting him three tenths clear of Perez.
Bottas was just starting a hot lap for Alfa when an Aston came out of the pits. But by his tone over the radio as he reports he got blocked, you'd never know he was a bit irritated. Sisu, for you.
A 1m29.698 puts Piastri fifth, just ahead of Gasly's Alpine. That will be a quietly satisfying one for the McLaren rookie.
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"It's dangerous what these guys do - that could have been a massive crash," grumbles Norris as he has to weigh on the anchors to avoid clattering into Verstappen.
Verstappen catches up to Norris and puts a consolatory arm out of the cockpit. "Mate!" yells Verstappen at engineer Gianpiero Lambase. He's not happy either.
Stopwatch
That farrago over, Verstappen lowers his best time again. The benchmark now stands at 1m28.660s, not too far away from last year's pole time.
Aston Martin now sits third and fourth behind the Red Bull pair. Alonso has just posted a 1m29.483s, which leaves him still eight tenths down on the pace-setter Verstappen.
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On a weekend when AlphaTauri has come under fire from its own team principal, who stated that he no longer trusted his engineers yesterday, Yuki Tsunoda in the lone machine is bringing up the rear of the 19-car field. His best effort of a 1m31.106s was set on mediums, the rest all on soft.
That is, aside from the two Ferraris who are just above Tsunoda on the leaderboard. But both Sainz and Leclerc have now switched to softs for the final minutes of the session. What can they pull out of the bag?
The Norris-Verstappen impeding incident was investigated by the stewards, but no further action will be taken.
Meanwhile, Alonso has been given a black and white flag for failing to follow the race director's instructions.
And it's yet another personal best for Verstappen, who now lowers the benchmark further to a 1m28.485s. At this rate, last year's pole time could yet be vanquished in practice....
"My seat is so hot," complains Sargeant. He has just pitted and lies 15th in the leaderboard.
Ferrari has now completed its first laps on soft tyres - better late than never - but it's not too promising for the Scuderia. Sainz is tenth, Leclerc 11th on a 1m29.844s and 1m29.897s respectively. Leclerc's lap looked a tad scruffy and featured a huge kerb-bashing moment through one of the chicances.
Perez is improving too, consolidating his second place with a 1m29.098s. But Verstappen is still the only man to dip under 1m29s so far.
Traffic is likely to be a big talking point in Q1 later. Zhou is the latest driver to be incensed, this time with Tsunoda.
Checkered flag
The checkered flag is now out, bringing FP3 to a close. Red Bull 0.9s quicker than the next-fastest car is quite the sucker-punch to the opposition.
Leclerc springs up to sixth on a 1m29.588s, but it's still 1.1s adrift of Verstappen. Sainz on a 1m29.761 is only tenth.
All the cars have now crossed the line and the classification is set, with Verstappen fastest from Perez, Alonso and Stroll. A pair of Red Bulls from a pair of Aston Martins.
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Drivers are completing practice starts on the grid before heading back to the pits. The next time they climb aboard will be for qualifying, and some teams will be significantly happier about what shape they're in than others.
Red Bull and Aston Martin, clearly, look in decent shape - continuing their form from Bahrain. But Ferrari appear to have work to do if Leclerc is to be in with a fight of challenging for a front row slot as he did two weeks ago.
Alpine did a lot of its heavy lifting earlier in the session and weren't chasing laptimes towards the end of the session. Just how representative is Gasly's ninth place and the 14th mustered by Ocon?
McLaren though you expect will be cheered by its display, with Norris and Piastri seventh and eighth. After a chastening Bahrain, things appear to be moving more in the right direction for the papaya team on this fast and challenging street track.
And needless to say, with Nyck de Vries not managing any track running in that session and Yuki Tsunoda bringing up the rear of the 19-car pack, AlphaTauri has a bit of head-scratching to do before qualifying. Can the Red Bull B-team avoid a Q1 exit?
Another team eyeing progression to Q2 will be Williams. Logan Sargeant only missed out in Bahrain by dint of setting an identical time to Lando Norris after the McLaren man, so can the blue cars come out of the traps firing?
Breaking news
In case you missed any of the action from the session, here's the full report from Jake Boxall-Legge: https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/f1-saudi-arabian-gp-verstappen-leads-fp3-from-perez-alonso-third/10445320/
Not got long to wait before the grid is set for tomorrow's Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. Qualifying commences at 5pm UK time, so join us then to see who can escape an early Q1 bath and whether anybody can stop the Red Bull juggernaut. Thanks for joining us, and we'll see you later!
Hello, and welcome back to live coverage of the Saturday of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix! Qualifying is now due to begin in just over 20 minutes.
So far, Red Bull has looked in ominously good form here - even by its own impressive standards in recent years. Verstappen has topped every session and, in FP3 earlier this afternoon, he was a second clear of the next non-Red Bull driver, Alonso's Aston Martin.
But, before we write-off qualifying as another Red Bull rampage, let's just remember we're at a fast, unforgiving street circuit so this session may not follow the usual script!
Breaking news
Traffic is expected to be a major factor, particularly in Q1, so there's always the potential for a surprise or two. Some tweaks were made to the Jeddah circuit's layout this year to try to help, but drivers are unconvinced they make much difference: https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/f1-drivers-think-jeddah-safety-changes-made-little-difference/10445271/
While Red Bull and Aston Martin are again looking strong here, it's far less rosy at Ferrari. The scarlet cars haven't shown their true pace yet this weekend with their engines believed to be turned down amid reliability concerns - and it's worth remembering that Leclerc has a 10-place grid penalty for already moving onto his third control electronics system of the year: https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/leclerc-saudi-arabian-gp-grid-penalty-after-bahrain-f1-engine-trouble/10443704/
Continuing the Italian misery, it's not a happy place down at AlphaTauri, either. De Vries already heads into the weekend as the only driver yet to experience this challenging Saudi circuit and he then missed the entire FP3 session earlier while his engine was being changed, so expect him to be heading out early in Q1 to get some running in.
Speaking of Q1, it's now just 10 minutes until qualifying is due to begin!
Incidentally, today marks 16 years to the day since Lewis Hamilton made his F1 debut and burst onto the scene with a podium finish in Australia in 2007 with McLaren. Given Mercedes' current struggles, a repeat result for Hamilton this weekend appears a major challenge.
However, it's worth bearing in mind Saudi Arabia provided Mercedes with misery last year. Hamilton failed to even get out of Q1 and will be eager to avoid a repeat today.
By: Autosport Staff
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