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Formula 1 Spanish GP

F1 Spanish GP Live Commentary and Updates - FP3 & Qualifying

Saturday's action from the seventh round of the 2023 Formula 1 season.

Kevin Magnussen, Haas VF-23, makes a pit stop during FP2

F1 heads to its seventh round this weekend and the second in a double-header after last weekend's Monaco Grand Prix.

Max Verstappen overcame a sudden downpour in the principality to claim his fourth Formula 1 victory of 2023, beating Fernando Alonso by 27.9 seconds.

He now leads the standings by 39 points from Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez, with Alonso in third heading into his home race.

FP3 begins at 11:30am BST and qualifying starts at 3pm BST.

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In just one minute, we'll be back underway.
Penalty
Bad news for Hulkenberg, his session-topping time has been deleted for a track limits infringement. 

Gasly now leads the way from team-mate Ocon.
The FIA has now confirmed that the red flag was due to the amount of gravel that had been dragged onto the track by the numerous offs.
Only eight drivers have so far set times. The decision from Ferrari to hold fire and wait in the garage now doesn't appear to be an unwise one.
Off track
Bottas wasn't the only one to run off the track, as Alonso ran through the gravel at the final corner and Albon at Turn 5. 

Those first three-and-a-half minutes were all action!
Race control acted very quickly to throw the red flag. To quick, as it appeared, after Bottas recovered back to the track.
Red flag
Red flags fly after Bottas slides off the track at Turn 12.
Stopwatch
Here come the first times and Hulkenberg is immediately on the pace once more with a 1:14.006s.
"More rain is coming," reports Russell. 

The two Ferrari drivers have only just joined the track, so will be hoping the rain holds off for a period.
Off track
Tsunoda loses the rear of his AlphaTauri at Turn 12 but continues.
For those only following the F1 action this weekend, the F2 sprint race took place after FP3 with the rain falling heavily for the first half. 

Drivers can therefore look forward to a completely green track!
Rain
Russell, sitting at the end of the pitlane, reported rain is falling before the 18-minute session began.
Green flag
We are GO for Q1!
We weren't wrong! The traffic queue is forming!
With one minute remaining before the lights go green to signal the start of qualifying, we suspect the track may be extremely busy from the word go!
An update from F1 editor, Jonathan Noble - one of our team on the ground in Spain - "Rain is slowly coming."
In the qualifying simulations on Friday, Hulkenberg was third fastest for Haas. He has never featured in the top 10 in a qualifying session in Barcelona!
Rain
Just after we reported the 30% chance of rain, it has arrived! Obviously, whether there will be enough to spark the need for intermediate tyres remains to be seen!
Haas team principal Guenther Steiner has been outspoken on the need for professional permanent stewards in F1. His comments saw him summoned to face the FIA between sessions. 

All the details are here. https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/haas-boss-steiner-summoned-by-fia-over-f1-stewards-criticism/10477768/
FP3 was interrupted by rain but as the dark clouds bubble up around the Circuit de Barcelona Catalunya once more, this risk stands at just 30% for the coming hour.
Good afternoon and welcome to Autosport's coverage of qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix, which kicks off in just over 10 minutes.
We'll be stepping away from the live commentary for a little while now, but be sure to check the website in the interim for all the latest news and reaction from the world of motorsport before we return and build up to qualifying at 3pm BST. See you then!
Here's the full report from FP3, as Verstappen continued his perfect weekend so far: https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/f1-spanish-gp-verstappen-heads-rain-hit-final-practice/10477781/
Zhou ended up P11 ahead of De Vries and Stroll, who had a trip through the gravel. Hulkenberg, Piastri and Ocon were up next, the Alpine drivers going against the grain by using medium tyres in the best of the conditions. Magnussen, Gasly, Albon and the crashed Sargeant filled out the top 20.
Russell was just 0.014s behind Alonso in sixth, but ahead of Leclerc, Bottas and Tsunoda in ninth - the AlphaTauri man within a second of Red Bull stablemate Verstappen. Norris, the first man onto the inters and first to switch back again to slicks, was tenth.
Verstappen therefore headed Perez by 0.25s with Hamilton third 0.408s in arrears. Sainz was fourth but has been noted for impeding De Vries, while compatriot Alonso was fifth.
After that period of inactivity, we finally got to see some more running towards the end of the session but it counted little as the times set in the first 10 minutes before Sargeant's off were always likely to be decisive before the weather turned.
Leclerc has reported a strange noise in the clutch that he's concerned about. Meanwhile Zhou has sent an irate message to his team about a Haas dawdling in front of him at Turn 7.
De Vries has had some more close shaves, this time getting right up behind Sainz's gearbox at Turn 12. His engineer says that he's been reported twice, and sure enough the home hero has been noted for impeding.
Checkered flag
The checkered flag is out to bring an end to FP3, and no drivers are able to improve. That means Verstappen's weekend clean sweep continues.
"I don't really feel comfortable pushing in these conditions, it's a waste," says Verstappen.
Quote
"Mama mia," is the irate radio call from de Vries after Stroll rejoins the circuit in front of him at Turn 1 from his pit call. That was a tad close.
It seems unlikely though that drivers will make any improvements in the closing minutes though as the track improves gradually. Sainz is still 6s down on his best.
Having used Norris as their guinea pig, several drivers are now convinced that softs are the way to go for the final few minutes, Sainz among them.
The latest to be caught out is Gasly, still on inters, who visits the Turn 7 gravel.
Bottas reports that sectors 1 and 2 are "kind of okay" but the damp third sector is "not fit for slicks". Norris is notably more cautious through there but is only 8s down on his best, and therefore faster than the inter-shod drivers.
Norris is starting a flyer on softs, so all eyes will be on how he performs. The McLaren driver has acted as a barometer for the others to follow in this session so far.
Still, the conditions are greasy enough to catch out Stroll who locks his right-front brake into Turn 5 and skates into the gravel. He's asked to pit for his Aston team to check the floor for potential damage.

By: Autosport Staff

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