After a Friday with a lot of activity on the track to test the new Jeddah circuit, the drivers were preparing to go out on the asphalt again in Saudi Arabia . These Free Practice 3 provided a few clues as to what will be seen in the night classification, but it is likely that the teams will save a card to assault their rivals.
The world leader, Max Verstappen did not want to hide and with the soft tires he set the best time of the session, with a 1:28.100, although his closest rival, Lewis Hamilton, was not far behind, as his time was two tenths slower . However, the Briton had some pretty hectic practice sessions, as he was about to have two serious accidents with Gasly and Mazepin by driving too slowly.
The surprise was Yuki Tsunoda, who was fourth with the AlphaTauri, half a second off the fastest time, and the good moment of the Italians was confirmed with Pierre Gasly, who finished in fifth place, however, they were close to the other Red Bull by Sergio Perez.
The Mexican, for his part, had to settle for third place in the last free practice session in Jeddah, far from his teammate, but he overtook the other squire, Valtteri Bottas, who stayed in sixth position.
From behind, the Ferraris stuck their heads out, with Charles Leclerc beating Carlos Sainz by just thousandths, although almost a second off Verstappen’s time in the case of the Monegasque. The ones that seem to be rivals of those from Maranello are the Alpines, who managed to put Esteban Ocon in 9th position, very close to the red single-seaters and ahead of Lando Norris, who closed the top 10 in Saudi Arabia.
2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix F1 Free Practice 3 Results Table
| Cla | Pilot | Chassis | laps | Weather | Difference | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  |
 |
Red Bull | 20 | 1’28.100 | |
| 2 |  |
 |
Mercedes | 23 | 1’28.314 | 0.214 |
| 3 |  |
 |
Red Bull | 21 | 1’28.629 | 0.529 |
| Four |  |
 |
AlphaTauri | 20 | 1’28.641 | 0.541 |
| 5 |  |
 |
AlphaTauri | 22 | 1’28,715 | 0.615 |
| 6 |  |
 |
Mercedes | 19 | 1’29.019 | 0.919 |
| 7 |  |
 |
Ferrari | 22 | 1’29.101 | 1.001 |
| 8 |  |
 |
ferrari | 19 | 1’29,149 | 1,049 |
| 9 | |
 |
Alpine | 19 | 1’29.177 | 1.077 |
| 10 | |
 |
McLaren | 18 | 1’29.300 | 1.200 |
| see results | ||||||
Summary of Free Practice 3 of the 2021 Saudi Arabian F1 Grand Prix
The last session before the live fire started fairly calmly between the teams, with only the Haas of Mick Schumacher and Nikitan Mazepin taking to the track, joined by Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen. Little by little the rest were added, knowing that doing many kilometers even with him alone hiding would not help much, since the classification and the race will be at night.
The Mercedes, dominators of Friday, put their two single-seaters on the track with the hard tire, but the references were nothing to write home about, and Raikkonen soon overtook them in his Alfa Romeo. Hamilton did not agree very much with the Finn and imposed his own law, with three tenths of an advantage over his partner, Valtteri Bottas, at the expense of seeing what Max Verstappen was capable of.
The Dutchman, at the moment of opening lap after 15 minutes of session , aborted to let Yuki Tsunoda and Nikita Mazepin through, so his first attempt with the soft was ruined. What was surprising was the exit of the track by his rival for the title, Hamilton, who over-braked at turn 1, although without consequences.
Minutes later, with the sun getting lower, Pérez was able to move up to fourth position, but Verstappen was still far from the seven-time champion’s time , more than six tenths. This was not enough for the Briton, who did a 1m28.314s to take a second off the entire grid before reaching the middle of Free Practice 3, despite riding hard rubber.
The drivers could not put their cars in the natural order , and the Ferraris were mixed with the McLarens and the Red Bulls, something that, in principle, should not happen. The Alpines, who were quite fast throughout Friday, were more hidden, and could barely be 11th and 15th, with Ocon ahead of Alonso.
Just on the verge of completing the first half hour , Verstappen’s Red Bull was able to lay in wait for Hamilton, but the world leader made his lap three tenths worse on the soft, while the Englishman made his lap on the hard.
The teams instructed most of their drivers to return to the garages to make final adjustments before qualifying, although others, such as Daniel Ricciardo, were pushing the limits in Jeddah , going over curbs and scraping the wing on tarmac. . The one who was close to the limit was, again, Verstappen, who took 1st with a lap of 1:28.212.
With 25 minutes remaining, the Mercedes were encouraged to mount the soft rubber , but it was seen that the drivers needed an extra lap to fine-tune the tires, although it may also be that the Germans had more difficulties with this compound.
The alarm went off in Aston Martin, when Lance Stroll was warned by radio to turn off the engine due to a puncture when he arrived at the pits, something quite strange, since the wheel has little to do with the tire. Another tense moment occurred just over 15 minutes from the checkered flag, as Pierre Gasly and Lewis Hamilton had a run-in at Turn 1 over the speed difference between the two, and both ended up in the run-off. The same thing happened with Hamilton and Mazepin himself, as the Russian had to avoid clashing with the world champion.
Verstappen put on a set of new softs as the session came to an end, and improved his time by one tenth to set the first sector record, but it wasn’t all, as he again beat his own time by five thousandths.
