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Formula 1
Saudi Arabian GP
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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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.
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.
Traffic is likely to be a big talking point in Q1 later. Zhou is the latest driver to be incensed, this time with Tsunoda.
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.
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.
"My seat is so hot," complains Sargeant. He has just pitted and lies 15th in the leaderboard.
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....
Meanwhile, Alonso has been given a black and white flag for failing to follow the race director's instructions.
The Norris-Verstappen impeding incident was investigated by the stewards, but no further action will be taken.
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?
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.
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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.
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.
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.
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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.
A 1m29.698 puts Piastri fifth, just ahead of Gasly's Alpine. That will be a quietly satisfying one for the McLaren rookie.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Sure enough Perez blasts to a 1m29.127s - and he's purple in all three sectors too.
Perez is on a mission and goes three tenths quicker than his previous best in sector one. A new PB incoming, we expect.
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"My right mirror keeps coming down," reports Perez. Not exactly sure what he means by that, but any sort of distraction around this circuit is never welcome.
Now Hamilton splits the Alpines on a 1m29.819s to go fourth, as Magnussen moves up to seventh on a 1m30.144s ahead of Albon, Norris and Sargeant.
While that was happening, Gasly set a new personal best but stayed third with a 1m29.701s.
Jeepers. Big wobble for Ocon over the kerb at Turn 10. He just about manages to keep it together. That will have sent his hear-rate spiking. We saw from Mick Schumacher's crash there last year you don't have a small accident at Turn 10.
Few drivers are improving, but Sargeant has just bounded up to ninth on a 1m30.508s, slotting in ahead of Leclerc and Sainz.
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Ferrari is yet to try out the soft tyres, with Leclerc and Sainz currently at the tail-end of the top 10. Aston Martin is also keeping its powder dry, having only run on the hard tyres so far.
Albon is splitting the Mercedes currently in sixth. Team-mate Sargeant is 18th at the moment, still building up to the pace.
Perez may have the best time overall, but Russell and Verstappen are quickest so far through the first and second sectors. Russell's best overall lap though is only fifth fastest so far, with both Alpines ahead of him.
As a reminder, last year's pole time was a 1m28.200s by current pace-setter Perez, so there's still a fair bit of time to be found. That Verstappen managed a 1m29.549s on hards suggests he may do just that on a set of soft boots.
The run-off area at the final corner is very wide indeed, and it allows Russell to jump out of the way as Hulkenberg comes through to post his first timed lap of the session - albeit only 18th fastest.
Piastri has a wobbly moment coming into Turn 22 but gets his McLaren in order again by taking to the run-off.
Stopwatch
Verstappen is still pounding around on the hards and chips away at his personal best with a 1m29.549s.
Hamilton backs out of a flying lap due to traffic and is told "yes it is very busy out there" by race engineer Pete Bonnington. Jeddah track traffic remains a serious issue due to blind corners and speed differentials.
Stopwatch
Welcome to FP3, Perez. He leaps to the top of the times using softs to post a 1m29.417s - 0.329s faster than Verstappen.
Ocon, also using softs, moves into fifth on a 1m30.505s. He had 'pole' here back in 2021 for one of the restarts, you may remember, and seems to like this place. But he's being shaded for now by his new team-mate, who recovered from a shocker in qualifying to score points last time out.
Stopwatch
Gasly springs back to the top spot with a 1m30.161s, but is promptly beaten by Verstappen's 1m29.882s.
By: Autosport Staff
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