Verstappen quickest as red flag fly three times in wet final practice

Max Verstappen set the fastest time in a wet final practice session for the Dutch Grand Prix which saw three red flag stoppages.

The championship leader’s best time of a 1’22.010 on intermediate tyres near the end of the session, three tenths of a second ahead of George Russell with Sergio Perez third-fastest.

Overnight rain had not lifted by the time that the pit lane opened for the start of the final hour of practice, with a fully wet track awaiting the drivers. Verstappen was the first driver out on the track on full wet tyres, joined by Liam Lawson for his first ever lap in the AlphaTauri AT04 as he steps in for the injured Daniel Ricciardo for the remainder of the weekend.

The lack of grip was quickly evident when Verstappen slid off the track at the edge of the banked third turn, running onto the grass. His team mate, Perez, also ran off at the tight right-hander of turn 11.

Despite the level of water on track, Lando Norris opted to head out on intermediate tyres, as did McLaren team mate Oscar Piastri. Norris also had a trip across the gravel of turn 11 before being brought in to check the car’s floor, but Kevin Magnussen had a much bigger moment on the exit of turn three, spinning on his out-lap on intermediate tyres into the wall and bringing out the red flag.

When the session resumed after the Haas was cleared, the rain had resumed. The track was busier than the opening minutes of the session with drivers opting for a mixture of wet and intermediate tyres. Despite fitting the full wet tyres, Charles Leclerc skidded off the track under braking for turn one, narrowly missing the tyre wall before rejoining the track through the escape road.

Verstappen used intermediates to set the quickest time with a 1’25.197, with Norris over a second and a half slower, also on intermediate tyres. Alfa Romeo driver Zhou Guanyu also fitted the intermediates but lost control of his car rounding the penultimate corner of turn 13, spinning into the gravel trap.

The session was suspended for a second time with Zhou stranded in the gravel. Intermediates were now the best tyre for the conditions with Norris improving to go quickest ahead of team mate Piastri. However, the track was still proving tricky, with Carlos Sainz Jnr, Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon all skidding off at the first corner.

Then, Lawson had a spin on the exit of turn 13 and came to a rest pointing backwards across the circuit. Despite Lawson eventually getting going again, the red flags had already been called for the third time. The session restarted for a final time with nine minutes remaining, with Verstappen lowering the best time of the session to a 1’21.631 as Russell moved to second place for Mercedes, three tenths behind the Red Bull.

Verstappen was not immune from the low-grip conditions as he slid off at turn 11 to make a brief trip over the gravel. However, when the chequered flag came out, he remained in the top spot of the order to be the fastest driver in the wet session ahead of Russell.

Perez was third-fastest in the second Red Bull ahead of Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton in fifth. Alexander Albon was sixth for Williams with Piastri seventh ahead of Valtteri Bottas and Charles Leclerc, who ran off at turn one two more times in the final minutes. Norris completed the top ten in the second McLaren.

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2023 Dutch Grand Prix third practice result

Position	Number	Driver	Team	Model	Time	Gap	Laps
1	1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull-Honda RBPT	RB19	1’21.631		18
2	63	George Russell	Mercedes	W14	1’22.010	0.379	17
3	11	Sergio Perez	Red Bull-Honda RBPT	RB19	1’22.631	1.000	17
4	14	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin-Mercedes	AMR23	1’22.634	1.003	13
5	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	W14	1’22.723	1.092	17
6	23	Alexander Albon	Williams-Mercedes	FW45	1’22.750	1.119	18
7	81	Oscar Piastri	McLaren-Mercedes	MCL60	1’22.892	1.261	19
8	77	Valtteri Bottas	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	C43	1’22.965	1.334	25
9	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	SF-23	1’23.093	1.462	12
10	4	Lando Norris	McLaren-Mercedes	MCL60	1’23.158	1.527	24
11	10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine-Renault	A523	1’23.210	1.579	15
12	55	Carlos Sainz Jnr	Ferrari	SF-23	1’23.438	1.807	17
13	22	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri-Honda RBPT	AT04	1’23.544	1.913	17
14	2	Logan Sargeant	Williams-Mercedes	FW45	1’23.570	1.939	19
15	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Haas-Ferrari	VF-23	1’23.640	2.009	19
16	31	Esteban Ocon	Alpine-Renault	A523	1’23.806	2.175	11
17	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin-Mercedes	AMR23	1’24.058	2.427	15
18	40	Liam Lawson	AlphaTauri-Honda RBPT	AT04	1’26.343	4.712	25
19	24	Zhou Guanyu	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	C43	1’28.482	6.851	9
20	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas-Ferrari	VF-23	No time		1

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2023 Dutch Grand Prix combined practice times

Position	Number	Driver	Team	FP1 time	FP2 time	FP3 time	Gap	Laps
1	4	Lando Norris	McLaren-Mercedes	1’12.460	1’11.330	1’23.158		1
2	1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull-Honda RBPT	1’11.852	1’11.353	1’21.631	0.023	2
3	23	Alexander Albon	Williams-Mercedes	1’12.447	1’11.599	1’22.750	0.269	3
4	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1’12.225	1’11.638	1’22.723	0.308	4
5	22	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri-Honda RBPT	1’12.749	1’11.720	1’23.544	0.390	5
6	10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine-Renault	1’12.895	1’11.766	1’23.210	0.436	6
7	11	Sergio Perez	Red Bull-Honda RBPT	1’12.323	1’11.817	1’22.631	0.487	7
8	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin-Mercedes	No time	1’11.835	1’24.058	0.505	8
9	77	Valtteri Bottas	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	1’13.448	1’11.857	1’22.965	0.527	9
10	14	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin-Mercedes	1’12.130	1’11.863	1’22.634	0.533	10
11	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	1’13.519	1’11.915	1’23.093	0.585	11
12	2	Logan Sargeant	Williams-Mercedes	1’12.617	1’11.934	1’23.570	0.604	12
13	31	Esteban Ocon	Alpine-Renault	1’12.802	1’12.001	1’23.806	0.671	13
14	63	George Russell	Mercedes	1’12.813	1’12.009	1’22.010	0.679	14
15	24	Zhou Guanyu	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	1’13.826	1’12.074	1’28.482	0.744	15
16	55	Carlos Sainz Jnr	Ferrari		1’12.093	1’23.438	0.763	16
17	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas-Ferrari	1’13.322	1’12.404	No time	1.074	17
18	81	Oscar Piastri	McLaren-Mercedes	1’12.658	1’12.901	1’22.892	1.328	18
19	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Haas-Ferrari	1’14.023	1’12.693	1’23.640	1.363	19
20	3	Daniel Ricciardo	AlphaTauri-Honda RBPT	1’12.990	1’13.096		1.660	20
21	39	Robert Shwartzman	Ferrari	1’14.803			3.473	21
22	40	Liam Lawson	AlphaTauri-Honda RBPT			1’26.343	15.013

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2023 Dutch Grand Prix

• Azerbaijan GP defeat was key to record-equalling run of wins – Verstappen
• “Too early to say” if podium signals return to form for Aston Martin – Alonso
• Verstappen makes history with unbeaten hat-track in first home races
• Perez is ‘doing his job and will be our driver in 2024’, Horner insists
• Ferrari had the “sixth or seventh fastest car” at Zandvoort – Sainz

Browse all 2023 Dutch Grand Prix articles