Verstappen stays on top as Sargeant crashes in rain-hit final practice

Max Verstappen continued his run of topping every session in Barcelona as rain affected final practice ahead of qualifying.

The championship leader set the quickest time of the weekend so far with his only push lap early in third practice to go a quarter-of-a-second faster than team mate Sergio Perez. Rain then fell on the circuit, leading to Logan Sargeant crashing his Williams.

Lewis Hamilton was third for Mercedes as drivers’ fastest times were all set in the opening 10 minutes.

With dark clouds hanging ominously in the horizon, there was a big rush out onto the Circuit de Catalunya as the final hour of practice began. All drivers headed out on soft tyres in an effort to perform a quick qualifying simulation run while they could, with Perez going quickest of all with a 1’13.914 ahead of the Mercedes pair of Hamilton and George Russell.

With some drivers reporting light drips of rain, Verstappen completed his first timed lap of the session to go quickest overall with a 1’13.664, exactly a quarter of a second ahead of his team mate. The two Spanish drivers, Carlos Sainz Jnr and Fernando Alonso, then split the Mercedes to move into fourth and fifth, respectively.

The faster final corner then caught out Williams rookie Sargeant, who lost control through the quick right hander and speared through the gravel and into the outside tyre barrier, bringing out the red flags. Sargeant climbed out of the car unharmed and the session was suspended for almost 10 minutes while repairs were made. During the delay, low-intensity rain began to fall around the circuit, with umbrellas going up around the grandstands and spectator embankments.

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When the green light reappeared at the end of the pit lane, none of the 19 remaining drivers appeared interested in going back out on track, given the lack of grip from the damp track compared to the start of the session. Just after the half hour point, McLaren sent out Lando Norris for an exploratory lap on intermediate tyres, but he quickly returned to the garage after a very slow sighting lap.

The track fell silent again with no other teams showing signs of wanting to send out their drivers onto the circuit. After almost 10 minutes without any running, Ferrari opted to scramble both Leclerc and Sainz onto intermediate tyres, with Leclerc almost a second quicker than his team mate on the damp track.

That sparked some late activity as the majority of the field headed out for the final 15 minutes in the now-drying conditions. Verstappen was quickest on the intermediates ahead of Russell’s Mercedes and the Alpines of Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly. Stroll ran off the circuit into the gravel at turn five, rejoining the circuit, while Gasly also had a trip over the gravel at turn seven.

Norris switched to the slick tyres and immediately became the quickest man circulating on track, which led to everyone else coming to fit the soft tyres for the final minutes of the session. The track was still far from fully dry, which meant there were no improvements on the timing screen for any drivers. The chequered flag flew at the end of the hour, with Verstappen on top of the order, two-and-a-half tenths ahead of his team mate Perez.

Hamilton’s best time from the early running put him third for Mercedes, with the two local favourites of Sainz and Alonso fourth and fifth. Russell was sixth ahead of Leclerc’s Ferrari. Valtteri Bottas,Yuki Tsunoda and Norris completed the top 10.

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2023 Spanish Grand Prix third practice result

Position	Number	Driver	Team	Model	Time	Gap	Laps
1	1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull-Honda RBPT	RB19	1’13.664		14
2	11	Sergio Perez	Red Bull-Honda RBPT	RB19	1’13.914	0.250	14
3	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	W14	1’14.072	0.408	9
4	55	Carlos Sainz Jnr	Ferrari	SF-23	1’14.240	0.576	20
5	14	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin-Mercedes	AMR23	1’14.264	0.600	14
6	63	George Russell	Mercedes	W14	1’14.278	0.614	16
7	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	SF-23	1’14.353	0.689	18
8	77	Valtteri Bottas	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	C43	1’14.360	0.696	15
9	22	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri-Honda RBPT	AT04	1’14.659	0.995	16
10	4	Lando Norris	McLaren-Mercedes	MCL60	1’14.681	1.017	20
11	24	Zhou Guanyu	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	C43	1’14.681	1.017	15
12	21	Nyck de Vries	AlphaTauri-Honda RBPT	AT04	1’14.693	1.029	18
13	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin-Mercedes	AMR23	1’14.756	1.092	14
14	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Haas-Ferrari	VF-23	1’14.988	1.324	12
15	81	Oscar Piastri	McLaren-Mercedes	MCL60	1’15.105	1.441	17
16	31	Esteban Ocon	Alpine-Renault	A523	1’15.266	1.602	15
17	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas-Ferrari	VF-23	1’15.534	1.870	12
18	10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine-Renault	A523	1’15.841	2.177	14
19	23	Alexander Albon	Williams-Mercedes	FW45	1’15.851	2.187	13
20	2	Logan Sargeant	Williams-Mercedes	FW45	1’16.529	2.865	5

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Combined practice times

Position	Number	Driver	Team	FP1 time	FP2 time	FP3 time	Gap	Laps
1	1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull-Honda RBPT	1’14.606	1’13.907	1’13.664		1
2	11	Sergio Perez	Red Bull-Honda RBPT	1’15.374	1’14.219	1’13.914	0.250	4
3	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1’15.845	1’14.549	1’14.072	0.408	11
4	14	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin-Mercedes	1’15.547	1’14.077	1’14.264	0.413	2
5	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Haas-Ferrari	1’16.461	1’14.177	1’14.988	0.513	3
6	55	Carlos Sainz Jnr	Ferrari	1’15.726	1’14.274	1’14.240	0.576	7
7	31	Esteban Ocon	Alpine-Renault	1’15.418	1’14.242	1’15.266	0.578	5
8	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	1’15.694	1’14.246	1’14.353	0.582	6
9	63	George Russell	Mercedes	1’15.753	1’14.392	1’14.278	0.614	8
10	77	Valtteri Bottas	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	1’15.978	1’14.448	1’14.360	0.696	9
11	10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine-Renault	1’15.545	1’14.457	1’15.841	0.793	10
12	81	Oscar Piastri	McLaren-Mercedes	1’16.353	1’14.583	1’15.105	0.919	12
13	24	Zhou Guanyu	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	1’15.906	1’14.585	1’14.681	0.921	13
14	22	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri-Honda RBPT	1’15.915	1’14.840	1’14.659	0.995	17
15	4	Lando Norris	McLaren-Mercedes	1’15.783	1’14.694	1’14.681	1.017	14
16	21	Nyck de Vries	AlphaTauri-Honda RBPT	1’15.504	1’14.785	1’14.693	1.029	16
17	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas-Ferrari	1’15.689	1’14.713	1’15.534	1.049	15
18	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin-Mercedes	1’15.939	1’15.010	1’14.756	1.092	18
19	23	Alexander Albon	Williams-Mercedes	1’16.630	1’15.056	1’15.851	1.392	19
20	2	Logan Sargeant	Williams-Mercedes	1’16.506	1’15.415	1’16.529	1.751	20

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2023 Spanish Grand Prix

• Ben Sulayem raises safety concerns over “too many people on the grid” at races
• Why Ferrari say their change in design is the result of “discipline”, not “copying”
• Hamilton and Russell were seeking tow from Sainz when they collided – Mercedes
• Red Bull’s Spanish GP diffuser update was ‘inspired by rivals’ including Williams
• Why McLaren always doubted second-row start in Spain would lead to points finish

Browse all 2023 Spanish Grand Prix articles