Don’t Blink! Sainz Leads Tight Race in Spain – Qualifying Battle Royal Looms!

In a close final practice session for the 2024 FIA Formula 1 Spanish Grand Prix, home hero Carlos Sainz emerged victorious, with the top four drivers separated by less than a tenth of a second. Charles Leclerc placed third ahead of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, while Ferrari’s Sainz finished only 0.030s ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris.

Lewis Hamilton was the only driver to post a time on the scoreboard during the first few minutes of the last hour of practice. On Soft tires, the Mercedes driver recorded a time of 1:14.178.

Verstappen started his first flying lap of the session as the seven-time champion came back to the pits, but the Dutchman finished second behind the Mercedes driver. After that, George Russell in the other Mercedes passed them both with a 1:13.431 Soft-tyre time.

The Ferrari duo of Sainz and Leclerc then divided the Mercedes drivers. Local hero Sainz finished second, tenths of a second slower than Russell, and Leclerc finished just three hundredths of a second behind his Ferrari teammate. Norris then emerged and the McLaren driver’s first lap put him second, 0.104s off Russell’s time.

In the later section of the practice, the field ran a number of longer runs before starting to bolt on new Softs for qualifying simulations.

After an incident involving Lance Stroll, wherein the Mercedes driver appeared to impede the Aston Martin driver, Hamilton appeared to back out of Turn 5 to allow Stroll through, but the Canadian seemed surprised and slid into the side of the Mercedes. After a brief pit stop, Norris backed out of his first lap due to traffic, but he rejoined the race and after a strong first sector the McLaren driver went purple in Sector 2. When he crossed the line, his 1:13.043 jumped him up to P1.

After that, Russell ran his qualifying simulation and finished 0.121 seconds behind Norris. However, both Ferrari drivers were starting their flights, and Sainz promptly set the fastest time, clocking in at 1:13.013, 0.030 seconds ahead of Norris. Merely seven thousandths of a second behind, Leclerc claimed third place.

Despite setting three green sectors during his qualifying lap, Verstappen’s combined performance was only good enough to place him fourth overall, 0.037 seconds behind Leclerc and 0.074 behind Sainz.

Sainz led Russell to fifth place by 0.151 seconds, while Hamilton was two tenths behind. Pérez finished the session in seventh position, ahead of Alex Albon of Williams, Fernando Alonso of Aston Martin, and Oscar Piastri’s second McLaren.

2024 FIA Formula 1 Spanish Grand Prix – Free Practice 3

1  Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:13.013  19 229.619
2  Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 1:13.043 0.030 14 229.525
3  Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:13.050 0.037 18 229.503
4  Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1:13.087 0.074 24 229.386
5  George Russell Mercedes 1:13.164 0.151 20 229.145
6  Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:13.359 0.346 26 228.536
7  Sergio Pérez Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1:13.723 0.710 19 227.408
8  Alexander Albon Williams/Mercedes 1:13.753 0.740 14 227.315
9  Fernando Alonso Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:13.786 0.773 21 227.213
10  Oscar Piastri McLaren/Mercedes 1:13.907 0.894 14 226.841
11  Esteban Ocon Alpine/Renault 1:13.950 0.937 18 226.709
12  Pierre Gasly Alpine/Renault 1:13.964 0.951 14 226.667
13  Nico Hülkenberg Haas/Ferrari 1:13.975 0.962 20 226.633
14  Valtteri Bottas Sauber/Ferrari 1:14.024 1.011 19 226.483
15  Kevin Magnussen Haas/Ferrari 1:14.074 1.061 27 226.330
16  Daniel Ricciardo RB/Honda RBPT 1:14.161 1.148 17 226.064
17  Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:14.254 1.241 16 225.781
18  Yuki Tsunoda RB/Honda RBPT 1:14.420 1.407 22 225.278
19  Zhou Guanyu Sauber/Ferrari 1:14.572 1.559 17 224.818
20  Logan Sargeant Williams/Mercedes 1:14.729 1.716 12 224.346