Perez pips Leclerc in delayed FP3

The start of FP3 was delayed by 15 minutes due to barrier repairs in Turn 1. The TecPro layers protecting the outside of Turn 1 had been carelessly re-arranged by a multi-car pile-up in the preceding Formula 2 sprint race.

As the lights finally went green Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll went straight out, with Mercedes duo Lewis Hamilton and George Russell also making an early appearance after a troubled Friday.

Mercedes tried to make the most of a final chance to trial much-needed set-up changes ahead of qualifying in a sunny and dry one-hour session.

Twelve minutes in the first time on the board was courtesy of Mercedes, too, a still violently bouncing Russell stopping the clocks after 1m47.256s on softs. That time was quickly beaten by Ferrari drivers Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc, the latter leading the way with a 1m44.661s after Sainz had briefly demoted him.

As is often the case Red Bull went out later than most, Perez nestling himself in the top three before going top with a 1m44.416s just before the 25-minute mark, Max Verstappen first appearing on track around the same time.

Verstappen’s first timed lap was just half a tenth behind Perez after going purple in sector one, but not as good as Ferrari’s next barrage.

Just before the halfway mark Leclerc and Sainz reasserted themselves at the top of the leaderboard, Leclerc’s 1m43.514s leading Sainz by almost half a second until Perez leapfrogged the Spaniard into second.

After the traditional mid-session lull, action picked up again in a frantic final 15 minutes.

Verstappen took second, cutting the gap to Leclerc to just over a tenth, only for his title rival to extend it to four tenths again with a lap of 1m43.240s.

A spin for Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas into the Turn 3 run-off interrupted the final flurry of improvements.

Verstappen couldn’t overhaul Leclerc after he aborted his first push lap, but Perez did, setting the fastest…