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Formula 1 Spanish GP

F1 Spanish GP Live Commentary and Updates - FP3 & Qualifying

Updates from Saturday's F1 FP3 and qualifying sessions ahead of the Spanish GP.

Yuki Tsunoda, AlphaTauri AT03

After a week's break, F1 returns to action back in Europe for the Spanish GP.

Charles Leclerc leads the F1 drivers’ standings by 19 points from Max Verstappen following the Dutch driver’s Miami GP victory last time out, as Ferrari heads the teams’ standings by just six points from Red Bull.

An extensive range of upgrades have been delivered by almost every F1 team, which could shake-up the pecking order as teams push on with the development of the new cars.

FP3 for the Spanish GP gets underway at 12.00pm BST (1.00pm local time), followed by qualifying which starts at 3.00pm BST (4.00pm local time).

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Bottas is another driver heading out early - he was one of the others in the wars in FP2 yesterday
Crash
Elsewhere, there's drama at AlphaTauri as Gasly's car is smoking as it's pushed into the garage!
Norris comes around to complete a lap - it's a 1m23.641s on the mediums
He's been joined by team-mate Ricciardo, plus Gasly and Stroll early on
Norris is the first car to head out on track - no surprise given his overnight chassis change
Green flag
The green flag is waved and FP3 gets underway!
It doesn't look like Red Bull is in any rush to send out Max Verstappen in this session. The car is still jacked up without a front wing at the moment
The big uncertainty today is Mercedes. The silver cars appear to have taken a step forward but is that genuine? We'll get an answer later
Anyway, that's enough of the off-track drama, now we can focus on what's happening on the circuit as it's less than five minutes until final practice begins
First it was a 'Pink Mercedes', now it's a 'Green Red Bull' causing trouble. Just as well no-one's yet accused of copying the AlphaTauri...
Breaking news
Meanwhile, it wouldn't be an F1 weekend without some sort of controversy and the latest bone of contention is the upgrade package Aston Martin has brought to Spain. Red Bull alleges this bears more than just a passing resemblance to its own challenger, amid suggestions that former staff have taken data to the Silverstone squad - something which Aston denies: https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/aston-martin-brushes-off-red-bull-f1-data-accusations/10307990/
Another driver on the backfoot is Alfa Romeo's Valtteri Bottas, who only managed three laps in FP2 yesterday because of an engine failure.
Breaking news
But, despite all the drivers knowing the Spanish circuit inside-out, this session will have extra importance for Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz as both McLaren and Ferrari have had a busy evening changing chassis for both drivers. Norris suffered damage as a result of running wide over the kerbs at the high-speed Turn 9 right-hander, while there was a fuel system issue on Sainz's car: https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/fuel-system-issue-forces-ferrari-into-sainz-f1-chassis-change/10307914/
Unlike the previous race in Miami - which was a voyage into the unknown for the drivers as they learned a new track - they are back at the far more familiar surroundings of traditional pre-season test venue Barcelona.
Qualifying is coming up at 3pm BST but, before that, there's the small matter of the hour-long FP3 - which gets under way in about 10 minutes' time.
Hola and welcome to Autosport's live coverage of the Saturday action of the Spanish Grand Prix!

By: autosport.com

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