Unlike on Saturday, the third free practice of the 2022 Spanish Grand Prix started much more calmly than usual, with the exception of the cars driven by Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz, who had undergone a chassis change.
With a radiant sun and crowded stands from early in the morning, recalling those old times when Fernando Alonso triumphed at the top of Formula 1 and dragged the famous blue tide, FP3 was animated with the passage of the minutes and the track began to take the desired temperature.
At the conclusion of the 60 minutes of practice, the last of the event, Charles Leclerc led the timesheets with a 1:19.772 , ahead of Max Verstappen, who was only 0.072 , with George Russell in third position.
Lewis Hamilton managed to finish fourth just over two tenths off the best time of the morning, gaining the position against all odds from Carlos Sainz and Sergio Pérez.
The middle zone, without counting Mercedes because it already seems to have distanced itself, was led by Lando Norris ‘s McLaren in seventh place, ahead of Kevin Magnussen, Valtteri Bottas and Esteban Ocon, who closed the top ten positions.
Fernando Alonso failed to complete a good enough fast lap and was forced to settle for thirteenth position, much further back than expected, some two tenths of a second behind his Alpine teammate.
Results of Free Practice 3 of the Spanish GP 2022 Formula 1
| Cla | Pilot | laps | Weather | Difference | Interval | Km/h | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Charles Leclerc |
 |
23 | 1’19.772 | |||
| 2 |  Max Verstappen |
 |
12 | 1’19.844 | 0.072 | 0.072 | |
| 3 |  George Russell |
 |
16 | 1’19.920 | 0.148 | 0.076 | |
| 4 | Lewis Hamilton |
 |
18 | 1’20.002 | 0.230 | 0.082 | |
| 5 |  Carlos Sainz Jr. |
 |
23 | 1’20,129 | 0.357 | 0.127 | |
| 6 |  Sergio Perez |
 |
19 | 1’20,260 | 0.488 | 0.131 | |
| 7 | Lando Norris |
 |
18 | 1’20.403 | 0.631 | 0.143 | |
| 8 |  Kevin Magnussen |
 |
21 | 1’20.646 | 0.874 | 0.243 | |
| 9 |  Valtteri Bottas |
 |
24 | 1’20.781 | 1.009 | 0.135 | |
| 10 |  Esteban Ocon |
 |
18 | 1’20.882 | 1.110 | 0.101 | |
| 11 |  Daniel Ricciardo |
|
17 | 1’20.910 | 1.138 | 0.028 | |
| 12 |  Sebastian Vettel |
 |
24 | 1’20.944 | 1.172 | 0.034 | |
| 13 | Fernando Alonso |
 |
17 | 1’20.981 | 1.209 | 0.037 | |
| 14 |  Guanyu Zhou |
 |
19 | 1’21.201 | 1.429 | 0.220 | |
| 15 |  Yuki Tsunoda |
 |
twenty two | 1’21.449 | 1.677 | 0.248 | |
| 16 |  Lance Stroll |
 |
23 | 1’21.520 | 1.748 | 0.071 | |
| 17 |  Alexander Albon |
 |
18 | 1’21.572 | 1,800 | 0.052 | |
| 18 | Nicholas Latifi |
 |
18 | 1’22.419 | 2.647 | 0.847 | |
| 19 | Mick Schumacher |
 |
4 | 1’25.467 | 5.695 | 3.048 | |
| 20 | Pierre Gasly |
 |
1 | ||||
| see results | |||||||
Photo by: Zak Mauger/Motorsport Images
Foto de: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images
Photo de: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Charly López
Foto de: Steve Etherington / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Steve Etherington / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Steve Etherington / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Steve Etherington / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
Photo by: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
Summary of the FP3 of the Spanish GP 2022 Formula 1
After a Friday in which all the teams rolled a lot in search of data, since the vast majority of teams have brought a large number of updates to the Spanish GP , Saturday’s day started much more calmly.
The first driver to hit the track in FP3 was Lando Norris at the wheel of a McLaren that had undergone a last-minute chassis change overnight, as did Carlos Sainz’s car, who didn’t take long to hit the track either and quickly moved into first position.
In the first minutes of the session, Pierre Gasly and Mick Schumacher were the protagonists. The first to attract attention was Pierre Gasly , who returned to the AlphaTauri garage with smoke in the area of the power unit, while Mick Schumacher did the same with his right rear brake duct engulfed in flames, needing the help of the fire extinguishers.
As for the time table, once the first 20 minutes of the session had been completed, Charles Leclerc was leading with a time of 1:20.278, ahead of his teammate Carlos Sainz and George Russell’s Mercedes.
Lewis Hamilton suffered problems on his first fast lap on soft tires and stayed away, reporting a breakdown that prevented him from opening the DRS . On the other hand, Max Verstappen was still in the garage, although with apparent signs of calm.
As soon as he went out on the track with the halfway point of FP3 almost completed, the current F1 world champion was placed in second position, behind the Ferrari Monegasque by only 0.197 seconds, with Checo Pérez, his teammate, fourth, less of a tenth of the other driver of the Scuderia.
Behind the big favorites, Mercedes seemed to have no rival in the fight to be the best of the rest, although they were still far away, one second behind Ferrari and Red Bull. Behind, the Alfa Romeo and the Alpine were interspersed in the following positions.
Due to the problems at the start of the session, both Pierre Gasly and Mick Schumacher said goodbye to FP3 once the halfway point of the stopwatch had passed, knowing that they would never go out on the track again.
Meanwhile, Sainz continued to run on Pirelli’s softer compound and overtook Max Verstappen, while Leclerc further improved to a 1m19.772s . Magnussen also surprised by placing sixth, less than a second behind the Ferraris, although a few seconds later, Norris would take that privileged position from him.
Entering the last 15 minutes, almost all the drivers mounted a second set of softs to carry out the famous qualifying simulations, which left us with a panorama a little more similar to what we could see in a couple of hours at the Circuit de Barcelona , although it should be noted that the moment of the fastest lap made a big difference, since ten minutes up or down can translate into a few tenths.
Despite the fact that the Ferrari drivers did not improve their times, the Monegasque held on to first place with his 1:19.772 and finished at the head of the session, as he did in the two practices on Friday. Verstappen completed a very good last lap and moved up to second, less than a tenth behind Leclerc, while the Mercedes got very close in third and fourth.
Alonso was one of the last drivers to go out on the track with new softs and, although he improved his time considerably, it did not help him to place himself among the top ten in a middle zone that seems to be tighter than ever in Barcelona.
