Belgian GP: Perez pips Verstappen to top FP3 after late lap
A late quick lap from Red Bull’s Sergio Perez put him on top in FP3 of F1 Belgian GP from Max Verstappen, as Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz was third.
The weather continued to remain cloudy at Spa-Franorchamps for FP3 of F1 Belgian GP which was smooth for most part until the end when a moment for Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc in mid-corner led him onto the gravel and into the barrier.
Fortunately, it wasn’t a major hit on the barrier and he was bale to get going with minor damage, but the FIA had already red-flagged the session fearing of him getting beached. The Monegasque did not have a great fast lap either to be sixth.
His F1 title rival, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen (1m45.184s) set the pace mostly in FP3 of Belgian GP but teammate Sergio Perez (1m45.047s) pipped him to top spot right at the end of the session, with Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz (1m45.824s) dropping to third as a result.
The Dutchman escaped any reprimand or penalty for failing to slow enough under yellow flag as the FIA stewards were okay with what he did. from McLaren’s Lando Norris (1m45.965s), who continued his fine run at Spa-Franchorchamps thus far.
A late lap from Alpine’s Fernando Alonso (1m46.061s) put him in fifth with Mercedes’ George Russell (1m46.071s) in sixth from Leclerc (1m46.120s). There was another late improvement from Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel (1m46.166s) to be eighth, Alpine’s Esteban Ocon (1m46.601s) ninth and AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly (1m46.604s) 10th.
The improvements from several drivers left McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo and Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton outside Top 10 in 11th and 12th as the Williams pair of Nicholas Latifi and Alexander Albon were 13th and 14th, where the former had the fastest Sector 1.
Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas was 15th with Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll in 16th, Haas’ Kevin Magnussen 17th, AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda 18th and Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guany 19th as Haas’ Mick Schumacher was 20th but did not set a quick lap due to repairs.
There were more grid penalties for drivers after the FIA released new document about changes. It was for Leclerc, Guanyu and Schumacher where the former took his fifth ICE, while the latter two took their fourth to incur a penalty.
The trio took the same on TC and MGU-H side, while Schumacher was the only one to take a fourth MGU-K. Likewise, Verstappen took his third ES to incur a penalty, while the Dutchman and Guanyu took their third CE. The Chinese driver and teammate Bottas added another penalty for a new gearbox.
