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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.
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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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"The inters have gone off already," says Norris, who suggests putting a slick on to see how it performs.
That seems to be about par right now with Verstappen 10.4s down on his purple lap last time by. Interestingly, its Bottas who currently has the fastest third sector.
"It feels quite dry," reports Albon. He's just lapped in the 1m26s bracket, a little over 10s off his best.
Hamilton, Alonso, the two Alfas and the crashed Williams of Sargeant are now the only cars yet to emerge to try out the inters.
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"It's definitely raining, the track just doesn't seem that wet," reports Russell as he takes a set of inters for a whirl.
Here's the full story on Haas boss Gunther Steiner being summoned to the FIA over his pre-event stewarding comments: https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/haas-boss-steiner-summoned-by-fia-over-f1-stewards-criticism/10477768/
Piastri, Ocon, Magnussen and Norris once more have now headed out.
Sainz completes his lap and it's a full 12.49s slower than Verstappen's benchmark. Leclerc meanwhile had a big moment at Turn 10 and ran wide.
Both Sainz and Leclerc are as expected on inters, and continue on to set a flying lap rather than peel into the pits after their sighter as Norris did.
To the delight of the partisan crowds, Ferrari has sent both its drivers out. Cue much flag-waving from the Sainz fans packed into the stadiums.
Did you know? Between 2007 and 2016 the Spanish GP had a different winner every year. A mind-boggling thought. That run counted Felipe Massa, Kimi Raikkonen, Jenson Button, Mark Webber, Sebastian Vettel, Pastor Maldonado(!), Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton, Nico Rosberg and Max Verstappen.
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The vast majority of drivers are still sat in their mounts though, even if they have no wheels on them.
The rain still continues to fall, so it's safe to say that Verstappen's session-topping time of 1m13.664 isn't going to be beaten.
Teams must be fairly confident that conditions for qualifying later on will be significantly better, otherwise they would be trying to pick up any relevant data they can.
It's a temporary respite though. After plenty of wiggles, Norris returns to the pits after his outlap.
At last, the sound of an engine on track! It's Lando Norris in the McLaren on intermediates.
For some context to the unfolding Steiner summons, the Haas boss made comments ahead of the Spanish GP calling on F1 to step up the quality of its stewarding, as he says it is no longer acceptable that “laymen” are making calls. It follows a penalty for Hulkenberg in Monaco that he didn't understand. You can read his remarks here: https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/f1-needs-stewards-rethink-to-replace-laymen-decisions-demands-steiner/10477002/
A great deal of kagools are currently in use around the grandstands. Are teams missing a trick by not having them as part of their merchandise ranges?
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We'll have more shortly on this unfolding situation:
Still no more track running to report following the Sargeant red flag, although the track is open for use.
Nico Hulkenberg spoke yesterday after ending FP2 third about Haas needing to "stay cool" and remain realistic about its place in the pecking order. The wisdom of his words are evidenced by the German's current placing of 14th. Here's what he had to say: https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/hulkenberg-haas-needs-to-stay-cool-after-f1-spanish-gp-practice-showing/10477661/
While we wait for the status quo to change and somebody to drive out on track, Ferrari's Fred Vasseur has opened up on the "tough" call to change the sidepod concept on its SF-23 car, which he says triggered by the need to open up a better development path for the future. You can read his comments here: https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/ferrari-tough-sidepod-switch-about-long-term-f1-development-opportunities/10477644/
A handy close up look at the radar Mercedes is using suggests the rain is only likely to increase in intensity however.
It's one thing to plug away with suboptimal tyres in changeable conditions during the Monaco GP, but quite another in FP3 when you can only lose out from either going too bold on tyre choice and spinning off, or burning up a set of inters on a surface that's too dry.
And we're back under way with FP3, but nobody is venturing out of the pits while they wait to see what the weather does.
The status quo in the dry early exchanges was unchanged from yesterday then, with Verstappen 0.25s up on Perez at the head of the field. The session will go green again in one minute.
Interestingly, the two Alpine drivers eschewed the soft to trial running on the mediums, and were the only ones to do so. That goes some way to explaining why Ocon is 16th and Gasly 18th.
Sargeant has crossed the track on foot and is walking back to the garage after his excursion. If there had been a paved run-off area at the final corner, he'd have recovered the oversteer moment no problem. But the unforgiving gravel trap sucked him straight to the wall.
Drizzle is now visible on the cameras, and numerous drivers reported as such on their way back into the pits.
Alex Kalinauckas is watching the session from Turn 14 and reports big heavy rain spots. So when the session resumes again, there may not be a decision to make over what tyres to use.
Well, we've not seen an F1 car go off there in yonks. Just goes to show that removing the final chicane and increasing the approach speed does make that turn a handful for both driver and car.
Crash
The Williams rookie has found the wall at the final corner, the back end just stepping out on him and sending him into the gravel. Fortunately it's a light impact with the barriers. "I'm sorry," says a fed up Sargeant, who confirms he's fine.
Red flag
"Starting to get some rain on the visor," Hulkenberg informs his Haas team. And we have Sargeant off. Red flag.
The timing screens have notified the teams of a wet track, but everybody is still pounding around on the softs for now. No prospect of wasting time with the hards as the weather looms.
"Drivability is still not great," reports Hamilton. He voiced fears yesterday that he might be at risk of not progressing to Q3 unless significant changes were made overnight. The Mercedes driver is currently third, 0.462s down on Verstappen.
Apologies for the radio silence. After some technical hiccups, we can inform you that track action is under way with Verstappen setting the early benchmark at 1m13.664s.
There seems a pretty healthy split in the grandstands between fans decked out in Aston Martin green and Ferrari red. Supporters of the old master Alonso who won his home race in 2006 and 2013, and his younger compatriot Sainz, angling for a first win here.
When the expected rain does hit, teams will have some decisions to make. What gain will they have from staying out, and are the conditions likely to be representative of qualifying?
The timing screens report an 80% risk of rain for the session. How much dry running will we get?
By: Autosport Staff
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