Although he will face the classification aware of a sanction that will make him lose five positions, Max Verstappen has confirmed his role as favorite for the classification this Saturday in Italy . The Dutchman flew late in the session, when everyone was on soft tyres, and led confidently to take the battle between Red Bull and Ferrari.
The driver who came closest to Verstappen’s 1m21.252s was Charles Leclerc, who was however almost three and a half tenths away. The Monegasque, who aspires to inherit pole position as he did not have a penalty on the grid, was the fastest Ferrari , and a priori he will have the help of his teammate Carlos Sainz, condemned to start at the bottom of the pack due to changes in the engine.
However, as Verstappen’s penalty is five positions, the championship leader will want to be first and drop only to sixth place, so he will not give up at all to lead Q3 of the classification. Sergio Pérez finished third, almost six tenths behind Verstappen, and he will not be Leclerc’s rival to come out on top on Sunday because he also has a penalty. Sainz, for his part, was fourth, almost six and a half tenths behind.
Already more than a second behind, but as the leader of the middle of the grid and even ahead of the Mercedes, Alonso confirmed the good feeling of Alpine in Italy to be fifth in this FP3 on Saturday. The Spaniard has no penalty and aspires to the second row of the grid and who knows if to the first, since other possible rivals such as his teammate Esteban Ocon (he was 9th) or Lewis Hamilton (10th) will lose positions.
After Alonso finished Lando Norris, sixth, well ahead of his teammate Daniel Ricciardo, 14th and far from the top 10. They completed the top ten, in addition to Ocon and Hamilton, a George Russell who was seventh and who with the penalties of so many drivers dreams with a good result, and a Yuki Tsunoda who finished eighth.
This FP3, like the rest of the weekend, had a semi-new face, that of a Nyck de Vries who will have to replace Alex Albon at Williams after suffering from appendicitis. The Formula E champion will make his debut in qualifying and the race after having contested FP1 with Aston Martin on Friday, and managed to stay just 93 thousandths (0.093s) behind his new teammate Nicholas Latifi.
Results of the FP3 (free practice 3) of the Italian GP 2022 of F1
(Click on ‘see results’ to enjoy the entire table)
| Cla | Pilot | laps | Weather | Difference | Interval | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Max Verstappen |
 |
19 | 1’21.252 | ||
| 2 |  Charles Leclerc |
 |
15 | 1’21.599 | 0.347 | 0.347 |
| 3 |  Sergio Perez |
 |
26 | 1,21,848 | 0.596 | 0.249 |
| 4 |  Carlos Sainz Jr. |
 |
17 | 1,21,897 | 0.645 | 0.049 |
| 5 | Fernando Alonso |
 |
17 | 1’22.306 | 1.054 | 0.409 |
| 6 |  Lando Norris |
 |
19 | 1’22.319 | 1.067 | 0.013 |
| 7 | George Russell |
 |
24 | 1’22.357 | 1.105 | 0.038 |
| 8 |  Yuki Tsunoda |
 |
27 | 1’22.430 | 1.178 | 0.073 |
| 9 |  Esteban Ocon |
 |
17 | 1’22.506 | 1.254 | 0.076 |
| 10 | Lewis Hamilton |
 |
22 | 1’22.567 | 1.315 | 0.061 |
| see results | ||||||
Photo de: Alessio Morgese
Photo de: Alessio Morgese
Photo by: Alessio Morgese
Photo by: Alessio Morgese
Foto de: Alessio Morgese
Foto de: Alessio Morgese
Foto de: Alessio Morgese
Photo by: Alessio Morgese
Photo by: Alessio Morgese
Photo by: Alessio Morgese
Photo by: Alessio Morgese
Photo by: Alessio Morgese
Photo by: Alessio Morgese
Photo by: Alessio Morgese
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Photo by: Alessio Morgese
Foto de: Alessio Morgese
Photo by: Alessio Morgese
Photo by: Alessio Morgese
Photo by: Alessio Morgese
Photo by: Alessio Morgese
Photo de: Alessio Morgese
Photo de: Alessio Morgese
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Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
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Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Summary of the FP3 (free practice 3) of the Italian GP 2022 of F1
The Aston Martins, the AlphaTauri, Bottas and Pérez took to the track as soon as FP3 started, and the Mexican established a still uncompetitive 1:23.448 with medium tires as the first reference time. Only him, Bottas (on soft) and Tsunoda (on hard) set time in the first ten minutes.
The Mercedes and Max Verstappen were next out, with the defending champion complaining that one of the two silver cars was bothering him early in the lap. His track engineer released a small dart over the radio after the Dutchman’s protest: “I guess they will have a meeting after the session…”.
Checo Pérez was still in the lead with a time of 1:22.148 which, after spending the first 15 minutes, Verstappen improved with a time of 1:21.872. Charles Leclerc, after setting a record in the first two sectors, was only 72 thousandths behind Max.
The session was worse for a Carlos Sainz who was investigated for almost causing an accident with Valtteri Bottas by disturbing the Finn, and who then had to return to the box when his team warned him of a possible problem.
The man from Madrid was fourth at the time, with a speedy Alonso in fifth position. Verstappen continued to experience traffic problems and had to overtake a Mercedes and Alonso on a fast lap. Newcomer Nyck de Vries , recruited at the last minute after Alex Albon’s appendicitis, suffered a run off the track just in the middle of the session.
In that part of FP3 things calmed down and the table changed little, before with 18 minutes to go the drivers and teams left the medium and hard tires and race pace tests behind and focused on the soft tyre. with which they will play it in classification.
Many cars left at the same time for that session, which again left some tension due to traffic. Despite improving his brand, Sainz could only stay 25 thousandths of the time that Verstappen had with means. For his part, Leclerc managed to save a spin after blocking in the Variante della Roggia.
Latifi surprised by setting the record for the first sector, and rising to ninth place while Alonso led the middle zone. Verstappen, without a slipstream and already on soft, improved his time by six tenths to drop to 1:21.252, putting three and a half tenths past Leclerc.
Checo Pérez was able to beat Sainz but was almost six tenths behind Verstappen, third, and from then on nothing changed among the leaders, leaving a ‘sandwich’ between Ferrari and Red Bull in the first four places.
Before the end, however, Yuki Tsunoda climbed into the top 10 with the eighth fastest time, dropping Esteban Ocon and Lewis Hamilton one place. Next, the classification.
