Italian GP: Verstappen back on top in FP3 from Leclerc
Red Bull bounced back to lead FP3 session in F1 Italian GP with Sergio Perez slotting in third behind Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.
It was a bounce back from Red Bull in FP3 session of F1 Italian GP after Verstappen set the pace with a 1m21.252s lap as teammate Perez (1m21.848s) also did well in third in his recovery run behind Ferrari’s Leclerc (1m21.599s).
The other Ferrari of Carlos Sainz (1m21.897s) was fourth as he is under investigation for impeding against Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas. The Monegasque noted of trouble at Turn 6 when discussing with his team about improving his lap time.
The mix behind had three different teams closely packed together, with Alpine’s Fernando Alonso (1m22.306s) in fifth from McLaren’s Lando Norris (1m22.319s) and Mercedes’ George Russell (1m22.357s). A late lap from AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda (1m22.430s) put him in eighth.
The other Alpine of Esteban Ocon (1m22.506s) was pushed to ninth from Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton (1m22.567s) as Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu dropped outside Top 10 where the Swiss outfit continued its fine run in F1 Italian GP practice thus far.
AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly was 12th from the Williams pair of Nicholas Latifi and Nyck de Vries, with the Dutchman replacing Alexander Albon who is undergoing appendicitis operation. He had a decent session but it included a gravel moment too.
McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo was a lowly 15th along with Alfa Romeo’s Bottas, as Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel was 17th from Haas pair of Kevin Magnussen and Mick Schumacher, where the German managed just the eight laps.
Prior to the session, Haas found a clutch issue which took them time to fix and they managed to in the end, to give Schumacher some lap time. The 20 runners were rounded out by Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll.
In terms of the power unit elements, Sainz, Ocon and Magnussen joined others to take their fifth ICE and hit themselves with a grid penalty. Additionally, Sainz and Magnussen took their fifth TC, MGU-H, whereas Sainz took his sixth MGU-K.
