F1 Spanish GP Live Commentary and Updates – FP3 & Qualifying
Saturday's action from the 10th round of the 2024 Formula 1 season.
Friday's action set up an intriguing battle with little to separate pace-setters Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes from the chasing pack, with McLaren, Red Bull and Ferrari all in close pursuit.
Causing a surprise in the top 10 were both Alpine drivers, with Pierre Gasly fourth and Esteban Ocon ninth.
FP3 will get under way at 12:30pm local time (11:30am BST) with qualifying following at 4pm local time (3pm BST).
Live Text
Sainz goes fastest with a 1m13.013, that's 0.030s faster than Norris.
Verstappen set three green sectors but could only go third - the top three now separated by 0.074s.
Perez is seven-tenths adrift down on seventh.
The incident between Hamilton and Stroll is to be investigated after the session.
Leclerc is on a flying lap and is, well... flying.
He may have run wide at Turn 10 but he has two purple sectors. Will he take top spot?
NO!
He lost time in the final sector and ends up third, 0.037s off Sainz.
This is so, so tight.
After that excitement, there are just three minutes left of the session.
The first half was a slow burn but we now have a tantalising qualifying set up for us.
Cars will return to the circuit for start preparations before practice starts on the grid - the last chance to practice before tomorrow's race.
Having said that, Leclerc looks like he is starting a fast lap...
Some more road rage, this time from Leclerc who felt as though he was impeded by Norris. They definitely collided.
Norris and Verstappen were then dawdling into Turn 10 and Sainz had to take avoiding action.
Norris: "He just drove into me."
There will be penalties before qualifying, almost certainly because all of that was quite ridiculous.
Anyway, Sainz finishes top of the pile, with Norris and Leclerc third.
Without premeditating any stewards verdicts, that was really poor from Leclerc - similar to Stroll earlier.
Norris and Verstappen may land themselves in bother for holding up Sainz, but I'd expect penalties for Stroll and Leclerc for their road rage.
Confirmation that Leclerc and Norris are to be investigated after the session.
Practice starts - which GP Lambiase described as the "most representative" of the weekend so far to Verstappen - have been completed and the cars are back in the pits. At least no one can drive into anyone else now!
Definitely a veer to the left from Leclerc in that incident.
It's very, very similar to the Ferrari of Kubica on BMW's Vanthoor last week at Le Mans.
Albon's time for eighth in the Williams went under the radar at the end of the session there - that's a pretty outstanding effort given where the team was yesterday.
There is plenty to come before qualifying so make sure you keep across the website for updates. That is us done for FP3 though, thank you for joining us.
Check out the full results and report from final practice here!
Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images
Hello and welcome back to coverage of Spanish Grand Prix Saturday!
Qualifying is just around the corner and what a session we could be in store for.
FP3 was a close-run affair, with Sainz on top ahead of Norris and Ferrari team-mate Leclerc.
But it was antics on track that was the most eye-catching.
As I write that, decisions are incoming...
Stroll has been reprimanded for colliding with Hamilton. We await news of Leclerc.
It feels like a bit of a let-off for the Aston Martin driver.
While we wait for that, FP3 gave us an insight into what the grid could look like at the end of the upcoming hour.
The top four was separated by just 0.074s.
Leclerc also gets a reprimand. The stewards must be in a very good mood because it looked a stonewall penalty.
It's an interesting precedent to set with drivers creating contact in a practice session.
Anyway, we are three minutes away from Q1.
Predictions in the comments and on our socials please. Good luck deciding this week!
Q1 is underway, but there is no rush to get on track.
The first driver to show is Zhou. The Sauber driver needs a positive result today.
It's a 1m14.334 to get us started, with Sargeant immediately faster by 0.033s.
Ricciardo goes into the 1m13s to go top, faster than RB team-mate Tsunoda.
They are split by Stroll.
Now there's a rush to get on track with 12 minutes to go and the cars queue at the end of the pits. Let's see what the big hitters can do.
Perez is the first of those big hitters to file a lap - a 1m13.090s. That's the best so far as Albon goes second.
Verstappen is flying!
What a lap to get underway with - a 1m12.306. That is just good enough to beat Norris, who has also crossed the line, by 0.080s.
Leclerc is next and goes top by 0.049s, whilst Sainz can manage only fourth.
Russell is fifth and the only other driver into the 1m12s.
Hamilton, Piastri and Perez are in the 1m13s and currently behind Gasly and Hulkenberg.
Both the Alpine and Haas drivers have posted seriously impressive opening efforts.
Ricciardo jumps out of the bottom five with his latest lap but is only 15th.
Stroll was impeded by Sargeant and the Williams will likely get a penalty for that.
So with six minutes left, Albon, Tsunoda, Zhou, Magnussen and Sargeant are in the drop zone.
McLaren statement on earlier hospitality unit fire:
"This morning a fire was detected in our trackside Team Hub.
"The team hub was evacuated of all staff and guests, and circuit emergency services attended the scene within minutes. The circuit emergency services and local fire department have since extinguished the fire.
"One McLaren team member has been taken to hospital as a precaution, and all McLaren personnel and guests are accounted for.
"We would like to thank all the marshals and emergency services for their quick and professional response. We would also like to thank Formula 1, the FIA and our competitors who have offered to help our team and guests this weekend."
Albon is the first to show for the final runs but his first sector time isn't setting the world alight.
Williams struggling this weekend.
By: Autosport Staff
