ZANDVOORT, Netherlands —
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc topped the times ahead of George Russell of
Mercedes in Saturday’s third and final practice for the Dutch Grand Prix, the
pair edging out local hero and runaway series leader Max Verstappen.
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Red Bull’s world champion was third in a
closely-matched session that raised the prospect of a tight and competitive
qualifying session at the short and compact Zandvoort circuit.
Leclerc was quickest with a best lap in one minute
and 11.632 seconds to outpace Russell by 0.066 seconds with Verstappen a tenth
of a second behind.
Carlos Sainz was fourth in the second Ferrari, less
than two-tenths off the 24-year-old Dutchman’s pace, ahead of seven-time
champion Lewis Hamilton in the second Mercedes and Sergio Perez, who was sixth
in the second Red Bull.
The top six were separated by only half a second.
Two-time champion Fernando Alonso was seventh for
Alpine ahead of four-time champion Sebastian Vettel of Aston Martin, the man he
is set to replace next year, with
Mick Schumacher ninth for Haas and Lando
Norris 10th for McLaren.
It was a session with few notable incidents that saw
the times improve throughout as the conditions encouraged greater speed.
On another perfect, dry late-summer’s day, with an
air temperature of 23 degrees and the track at 29, Perez was the first man out
followed by Gasly. For several minutes, they were the only cars on track.
Verstappen made a dramatic entrance after 12 minutes
by topping the timesheets immediately in 1:12.309 with Sainz slotting in second
behind him, six seconds adrift.
It was a statement lap from the Dutchman in front of
his vast army of fans in the 105,000 crowd, packed into the tight and picturesque
circuit in the North Sea sand dunes.
Despite complaining of lack of grip, Verstappen
trimmed his time to 1:12.196 after 22 minutes with Leclerc in pursuit, 0.5sec
adrift, and Hamilton third, six-tenths off the pace.
Ferrari responded with 19 minutes remaining when
Sainz jumped to the top as the first man in the 1:11’s, two-tenths clear of
Verstappen before team-mate Leclerc improved on that in 1:11.632.
The track was clearly improving and offering more
grip and speed as Russell leapt to second, splitting the Ferraris and Hamilton
taking fourth ahead of Verstappen, shortly before the champion returned to the
fray.
His first lap lifted him to third, behind Leclerc and
Russell, with Sainz fourth, this group separated by only three-tenths — indicating
anyone from one of the leading three teams can mount a bid for pole position
later on Saturday.
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