Max Verstappen went from Red Bull wondering overnight if they were heading in the wrong direction to leading the way, almost half a second up on his nearest non-Red Bull rival in FP3 for the British Grand Prix.
The Red Bull driver laid down a 1:27.901 to beat Sergio Perez by four-tenths while Charles Leclerc a further 0.037s off the pace.
But perhaps the highlight of the session, at least for the British fans, was the news from the Mercedes camp of “no bouncing” as reported by George Russell. Carlos Sainz couldn’t say the same.
Verstappen puts in a solid 1:27:901, the fastest time of the weekend so far ⏱️#BritishGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/buFx24jWMS
— Formula 1 (@F1) July 2, 2022
Final practice at the British Grand Prix took place on a dry track with heavy grey skies overhead, the track ten degrees cooler that in FP2 and the gusts “30kph” as Aston Martin informed Lance Stroll.
Alpine, after Friday’s bouncing, were the first out with Esteban Ocon ahead of Fernando Alonso. The 1-2, though, was short-lived as McLaren hit the front, also 1-2, and then Ferrari took over at the top, Charles Leclerc putting in a 1:29.4 to edge Carlos Sainz by 0.3s.
What was initially thought to be problems at Haas for Kevin Magnussen turned out to be nothing more than a set-up change, the Dane soon joining his team-mate Mick Schumacher out on track.
Back at the front Leclerc upped his pace to a 1:29.0 with Sergio Perez second ahead of Lewis Hamilton, make that George Russell as he followed Hamilton’s lead with two warm-up laps before going for a hot one to take third off his team-mate.
It was all-change as Max Verstappen went quickest on his very first flying lap, the reigning World Champion clocking a 1:28.5 – purple in all three sectors. That put him 0.48s ahead of Leclerc, the Monégasque driver warned by Ferrari that rain was on the way.
Russell’s next lap elevated him to third behind Verstappen and Leclerc before Hamilton, on a flier, jumped up to second place. The seven-time World Champion 0.2s down on Verstappen, Russell dropped to fifth.
📻 George: “No bouncing.”
📻 Ricci: “Copy that.”
— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) July 2, 2022
Over at Ferrari, though, the bouncing was very much in play at least for Sainz. “The problem from yesterday in the high speed are not better,” reported the Spaniard.
Verstappen upped his pace to a 1:28.3 with Hamilton closing the gap to a tenth and Leclerc almost half a second down ahead of…
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