After a very unproductive Friday, in which the rain took all the limelight and left the teams quite lost in terms of their position compared to the rest of the teams, heaven gave a truce this Saturday in Suzuka so that the teams took advantage of the third free practice of the weekend to configure their cars.
At the end of the 60 minutes of FP3 and after the first soft qualifying simulation of the Japanese Grand Prix, Max Verstappen set the fastest time of the morning at Suzuka with a 1:30.671, ahead of Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc, the two Ferrari drivers.
Fernando Alonso finished in fourth position, just ahead of Sergio Pérez, who had a lot of traffic on his last lap with new softs and the two Mercedes, very evenly matched although with George Russell ahead of Lewis Hamilton.
Lando Norris, with his McLaren, finished eighth, while Esteban Ocon and Lance Stroll closed the top ten positions that in several hours would give access to the last and final Q3 of the 2022 Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix.
Results of Free Practice 3 (FP32) of the Japanese GP 2022 F1
| Cla | Pilot | laps | Weather | Difference | Interval | Km/h | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Max Verstappen |
 |
22 | 1’30.671 | 230.561 | ||
| two |  Carlos Sainz Jr. |
 |
27 | 1’30,965 | 0.294 | 0.294 | 229,815 |
| 3 |  Charles Leclerc |
 |
27 | 1’30.980 | 0.309 | 0.015 | 229.777 |
| 4 | Fernando Alonso |
 |
20 | 1’31.320 | 0.649 | 0.340 | 228.922 |
| 5 |  Sergio Perez |
 |
25 | 1,31,514 | 0.843 | 0.194 | 228,437 |
| 6 |  George Russell |
 |
28 | 1’31.530 | 0.859 | 0.016 | 228.397 |
| 7 | Lewis Hamilton |
|
25 | 1’31.589 | 0.918 | 0.059 | 228.250 |
| 8 | Lando Norris |
 |
27 | 1’31.747 | 1.076 | 0.158 | 227.857 |
| 9 |  Esteban Ocon |
|
22 | 1’31.750 | 1.079 | 0.003 | 227.849 |
| 10 |  Lance Stroll |
 |
25 | 1’31.838 | 1.167 | 0.088 | 227.631 |
| see results | |||||||
Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images
Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images
Photo de: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images
Photo By: Andy Hone/Motorsport Images
Photo By: Andy Hone/Motorsport Images
Photo By: Andy Hone/Motorsport Images
Foto de: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
Summary of Free Practice 3 (FP3) of the Japanese GP 2022 F1
For the first time all weekend, drivers and teams were able to enjoy Suzuka’s asphalt in dry conditions and it was quickly noticeable, since from the first minute all 20 drivers on the F1 grid went out to roll with the compounds dry.
After the first timed laps, Max Verstappen took the lead with a time of 1:32.050 on soft tyres, more than a second ahead of Checo Pérez, his teammate who moved into second place, ahead of the two McLarens.
The Ferraris, with mediums, were positioned seventh and tenth respectively, ahead of Albon and Alonso, while the Mercedes, Hamilton with hard and Russell with mediums, did not go beyond 14th and 15th position.
With the exception of Verstappen, who returned to the pits after four laps, the rest stayed out on the track for many laps making the first long runs of the weekend on dry tyres, evidencing the large amount of fuel they were carrying.
Pérez and Alonso were the next to return to the pits, feeling a job well done. Over the next few minutes, many drivers also entered their garages to make setup changes and continue their testing programme.
Arriving at the halfway point of FP3, practically all the cars returned to the pits to make a break before returning to the track with new tyres. Meanwhile, the time table was unchanged from the first minutes of the session.
On his first lap on the softs, Hamilton moved into third place, 1.2s off the fastest time in Free Practice 3, still the work of Max Verstappen. Alonso and Ocon were positioned second and third, half a second behind the Dutchman, minutes before Sainz climbed to first position with a 1:30.965, 0.4s ahead of his teammate, Leclerc, who moved up to second place.
The race simulations continued and Alex Albon moved up to fourth position, making it very clear that the time table was still not very representative, in fact Max Verstappen was still third with the time of his first timed lap, in fact he improved with means and came second, 0.3s behind Sainz’s best time.
Entering the last 15 minutes of FP3, all the drivers returned to their garages with a lot of data collected from their long runs and also for their settings for the rest of the weekend.
In the last moments of the session, absolutely all the drivers fitted new soft tires and carried out the first qualifying simulations of the weekend, giving us a more realistic picture of what could happen in a few hours.
After the Mercedes fell away, Leclerc improved but fell 0.015s off Sainz’s best time. Verstsappen, on the other hand, did improve and moved up to first place with a time of 1:30.671.
Alonso also improved and that helped him to get fourth at 0.649 of the best time, just behind the Dutch driver and the two Ferrari. Sergio Pérez was affected by traffic and finished fifth, behind the Spaniard and ahead of the Mercedes.
