After a very active Friday on the track, the single-seaters of the highest category returned to the Zandvoort track on the morning of Saturday, September 3, to contest the third free practice session of the 2022 Formula 1 Dutch Grand Prix.
After a few minutes that were used to make some long runs to complement the data collected in FP2 on Friday, all the drivers went out on the track in the last moments of FP3 to carry out the famous qualifying simulation that gives a first impression of what could be seen in a few hours in what will be the fastest session of the weekend.
At the end of the 60 minutes of Free Practice 3, Charles Leclerc set the best time with a 1:11.632 , ahead of a surprising George Russell and a Max Verstappen who finished 0.161 seconds despite the fact that his final two laps were not entirely good.
Carlos Sainz set the fourth fastest time and was the last to get within half a second of his Ferrari team-mate, as Lewis Hamilton, who finished fifth, did so 0.524 seconds behind, just ahead of the Red Bull of Sergio Perez.
Fernando Alonso was “the first of the rest”, seventh with a best time that left him 0.695s behind the first position, with one of his greatest rivals a decade ago, Sebastian Vettel, just under two tenths off the driver’s record from Alpine.
Mick Schumacher and Lando Norris closed the top ten positions that this afternoon would give access to Q3, where the drivers will fight for the fifteenth pole position of the 2022 Formula 1 season on Dutch soil.
FP3 Results, Free Practice 3 of the Dutch GP 2022 F1
(Click on ‘see results’ to enjoy the entire table)
| Cla | Pilot | laps | Weather | Difference | Interval | Km/h | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Charles Leclerc |
 |
20 | 1’11.632 | 214.044 | ||
| 2 |  George Russell |
 |
24 | 1’11.698 | 0.066 | 0.066 | 213.846 |
| 3 |  Max Verstappen |
 |
22 | 1’11.793 | 0.161 | 0.095 | 213.563 |
| 4 |  Carlos Sainz Jr. |
 |
17 | 1’11,971 | 0.339 | 0.178 | 213,035 |
| 5 | Lewis Hamilton |
 |
25 | 1’12.156 | 0.524 | 0.185 | 212.489 |
| 6 |  Sergio Perez |
 |
29 | 1’12.176 | 0.544 | 0.020 | 212,430 |
| 7 | Fernando Alonso |
 |
16 | 1’12.327 | 0.695 | 0.151 | 211.987 |
| 8 |  Sebastian Vettel |
 |
25 | 1’12.491 | 0.859 | 0.164 | 211.507 |
| 9 | Mick Schumacher |
 |
15 | 1’12.558 | 0.926 | 0.067 | 211.312 |
| 10 | Lando Norris |
 |
18 | 1’12.591 | 0.959 | 0.033 | 211.216 |
| see results | |||||||
Photo By: Andy Hone/Motorsport Images
Photo by: Mark Sutton/Motorsport Images
Photo by: Mark Sutton/Motorsport Images
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Foto de: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Steve Etherington / Motorsport Images
Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Steve Etherington / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Photo de: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
Photo by: Mark Sutton/Motorsport Images
Foto de: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Photo by: Mark Sutton/Motorsport Images
Photo by: Mark Sutton/Motorsport Images
Summary of the FP3, Free Practice 3 of the Dutch GP 2022 F1
Contrary to what happened on Friday, there was no great hurry on the part of the teams to get out on the track in the first minutes of Free Practice 3, in fact, only the two Aston Martin and Sergio Pérez stepped on the Dutch asphalt in the first five minutes.
The Mexican driver was the first to set a lap time and take first place thanks to his 1:13.792 on the soft tyre. At that very moment, AlphaTauri joined the action with Pierre Gasly and Yuki Tsunoda.
With the exception of the Red Bull driver, all returned to the garage after completing an installation lap. Meanwhile, Checo further lowered his mark to 1m13.603s on four-lap soft tyres.
Max Verstappen lifted the spirits of the home fans when the clock counted down the first ten minutes of FP3, breaking the silence that reigned in Zandvoort at the time. Along with the Dutchman, Hamilton, Sainz and Leclerc also took to the track.
On his first lap, the current championship leader took first place with a 1m12.309s , more than a second ahead of his teammate. Russell was 0.625s, Sainz 1.010s, Leclerc 1.075s and Hamilton 1.079s off Verstappen ‘s time.
Little by little the action on the asphalt became more crowded and only Ricciardo, Alonso and the two Alfa Romeos remained inside the garage with 45 minutes to go before the checkered flag.
The #1 improved his time even further and dropped to 1:12.196 , at the same time that Mick Schumacher surprised everyone by rising to third place, ahead of the two Ferraris, 1.057 behind the Red Bull driver.
A few laps later, both Leclerc and Sainz improved their times and were just over half a second behind the Dutchman, with the two Mercedes drivers sandwiched between them.
Close to reaching the halfway point in Free Practice 3, Alonso was out on the track for the first time when his current teammate, Esteban Ocon, had already spent eight laps on the medium tires and was in 13th position.
In his first laps on medium speeds, the Spaniard improved his teammate’s time by more than half a second, which allowed him to place 11th, although still far behind the riders who had ridden the soft ones, 1.566s off the best time in the race. session.
In the middle of the table, Pérez was still very far from Verstappen’s times, as in yesterday’s session. More than one second and three tenths separated them, although the Mexican driver seemed to be doing a different program with some softs that had already accumulated 13 laps.
With 20 minutes to go in FP3 and after completing some long runs, the vast majority of drivers headed back to their garages to make the final adjustments to their cars and launch into the qualifying simulation.
Sainz was the first of the favorites to complete a lap on new softs and climbed to first place with a time of 1:11.971 , while his rivals were still in the pits.
Leclerc improved his team-mate’s time by more than three tenths and took first place with a time of 1:11.632 , just 0.066 seconds faster than Russell, who crossed the finish line a few seconds later than the Monegasque.
Alonso positioned himself fifth on the soft tyres, 0.695 seconds behind the Monegasque driver. Meanwhile, the two Red Bulls remained in the garage. Hamilton , at the wheel of the other Mercedes, placed fourth, 0.524s behind the Ferrari driver.
With 11 minutes to go before the checkered flag, the big favorites took to the track and Verstappen could not beat the times of Leclerc and Russell, remaining third, 0.205s off the Monegasque driver’s time. Pérez , meanwhile, was placed sixth, at 0.544s .
Both Red Bull drivers improved their times on the following lap, but it failed to take a step up in their positions and Verstappen finished third , 0.161s off Leclerc’s best time, with Russell sandwiched in between.
