After a Friday in which Ferrari gave the feeling of being stronger than Red Bull, the third and final free practice of the 2022 Formula 1 French Grand Prix left a quite different image, largely due to Max Verstappen, who He dominated from the first second he came out onto the track.
At the end of the last 60 minutes of practice at Paul Ricard, the Dutch driver set the fastest time with a 1:32.272 , a time he recorded at the end of FP3, along with his closest rivals, Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc, who they finished second and third respectively after several unsuccessful attempts to improve on Verstappen ‘s time.
Behind the big favorites, Lewis Hamilton managed to get ahead of the other Red Bull driver, Sergio Pérez, both more than half a second off the best time in Free Practice 3 .
George Russell, in the other Mercedes, finished sixth, ahead of Fernando Alonso, who against all odds managed to improve in the last seconds of FP3, and Alex Albon who, as on Friday, surprised with a great result being eighth at the wheel of his renewed and improved Williams.
Lando Norris and Yuki Tsunoda completed the top ten positions, although those last places in the middle zone were very close, confirming the equality that exists at the moment and how expensive it will be to reach Q3 in this afternoon’s classification.
Results of the FP3, free practice 3 of the French GP 2022 of F1
Click on “VIEW RESULTS” to see the full time table
| Cla | Pilot | laps | Weather | Difference | Interval | Km/h | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Max Verstappen |
 |
23 | 1’32.272 | 227.926 | ||
| two |  Carlos Sainz Jr. |
 |
14 | 1’32,626 | 0.354 | 0.354 | 227,055 |
| 3 |  Charles Leclerc |
 |
20 | 1’32.909 | 0.637 | 0.283 | 226.363 |
| 4 |  Lewis Hamilton |
 |
22 | 1’33.255 | 0.983 | 0.346 | 225.523 |
| 5 |  Sergio Perez |
 |
25 | 1,33,293 | 1,021 | 0.038 | 225,431 |
| 6 | George Russell |
 |
18 | 1’33.376 | 1.104 | 0.083 | 225.231 |
| 7 | Fernando Alonso |
 |
18 | 1’33.505 | 1.233 | 0.129 | 224.920 |
| 8 |  Alexander Albon |
 |
19 | 1’33.558 | 1.286 | 0.053 | 224.793 |
| 9 | Lando Norris |
 |
16 | 1’33.669 | 1.397 | 0.111 | 224.526 |
| Ten |  Yuki Tsunoda |
 |
19 | 1’33.751 | 1.479 | 0.082 | 224.330 |
| see results | |||||||
Foto de: Steve Etherington / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Steve Etherington / Motorsport Images
Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Photo by: Mark Sutton/Motorsport Images
Foto de: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Foto de: 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
Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Photo de: Alastair Staley / Motorsport Images
Photo de: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Photo de: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Photo de: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Foto de: 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
Foto de: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Photo by: Alastair Staley / 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
Photo by: Mark Sutton/Motorsport Images
Summary of Free Practice 3 of the French GP 2022 F1 in Paul Ricard
Contrary to what happened yesterday, the rush to get out and roll at the start of the third and last free practice sessions of the 2022 Formula 1 French Grand Prix was scarce, in fact, once the first 10 minutes were completed, until seven were the pilots who had not yet tried the Gallic asphalt.
In the time table, Max Verstappen led from the start with a time of 1:32.808 , ahead of Sergio Pérez and Fernando Alonso, while the Ferraris waited calmly inside their garages.
The most used compound in the first stages of FP3 was the medium, although the soft was also seen in some of the single-seaters. Meanwhile, the hard one was discarded by all the teams.
Carlos Sainz, who will start last after fitting a new power unit, took to the track and quickly moved into second behind the Dutch driver, just under half a second behind. Meanwhile, his partner, Charles Leclerc, the only one who opted for the hard ones, stayed away, in ninth place.
Despite the fact that no one could come close to Max Verstappen’s time, some drivers such as Pierre Gasly and Valtteri Bottas surprised by placing their cars in fourth and fifth position, especially a French driver who this weekend debuts a great AlphaTauri upgrade package, with the one who hope to rejoin the fight for being the first of the rest.
Halfway through Free Practice 3 completed, Leclerc returned to the garage after eight laps and got out of the car, while his mechanics disassembled the rear of his chassis to carry out some work that, at least by appearance, did not seem to be alarming.
Lewis Hamilton, at the wheel of his Mercedes and with the softest compound, achieved the third fastest time of the day so far, a 1:33.255 that left him in third position, five tenths behind the Dutch Red Bull driver.
Meanwhile, the Ferrari F1-75s, both on new softs, were closing in on Verstappen’s time, with Leclerc second, 0.101 seconds behind, and Sainz third, 0.364 seconds behind.
With 15 minutes to go until the end of the session, Alpine’s sensations did not seem to improve too much and this was noticeable in the positions of Alonso and Ocon, both out of the top ten, with the Enstone mechanics changing parameters in the car of the French pilot.
Carlos Sainz improved his time on a used soft tire and took first place with a 1m32.626s , although a few minutes later Verstappen did the same to reclaim first place with a time of 1m32.272s .
Behind, Fernando Alonso also surprised everyone in the last seconds of the session and rose to seventh position, behind the two Red Bulls, the Ferraris and the Mercedes.
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