Latifi tops damp FP3 from Leclerc and Albon

The Canadian, who is fighting for a new contract to remain on the grid with the Grove team, surprisingly bolted to the top in the dying moments of a slippery FP3 to pip second practice pacesetter Leclerc.

Alex Albon, who had taken the flag moments before his Williams team-mate, secured third ahead of his former Red Bull stablemate and defending champion Max Verstappen.

A downpour in the hour leading up to FP3, which helped flood the paddock and caused a few motorhomes to leak, created a cautious start to the hour-long Saturday session.

Leclerc was the first car to emerge after three minutes, followed shortly by team-mate Sainz and then both McLarens, Zhou Guanyu’s Alfa Romeo, Lance Stroll and Mick Schumacher joined the action.

The full wet tyre was the pick of the bunch, Leclerc taking the blue-walled rubber to a 1m46.044s initially before Sainz found half a second to sit provisionally top of the pack.

Then two-time champion Alonso ventured out on intermediates, requiring plenty of corrections throughout the lap and he was ultimately 5.8s off the pace as the crossover point was yet to arrive.

The full wets continued as the optimal tyre for the conditions, as Leclerc only needed 10 mins to post his 1m43.364s effort that would take him to the head of the leaderboard for almost the entire session.

That offered him a 1.25s cushion over Sainz before heavier rain arrived – with none of the Red Bull or Mercedes cars having left the garage.

With Leclerc and Vettel off track at Turn 7, the Ferrari benchmark remained, although Alonso could at least close to within 2.4s to move to third ahead of Daniel Ricciardo.

Stroll would pip Alonso before a string of mistakes at Turn 4 – Zhou, Pierre Gasly, Nicholas Latifi and Alex Albon combating understeer and oversteer to require the run-off on the outside of the medium-speed left-hander.

With conditions deteriorating, Lewis Hamilton and Leclerc vacated the cockpit completely to leave only Mick Schumacher out on track after 22 minutes.

Six minutes later, the track was comparatively busy as the standing water started to dissipate – this allowed the Haas cars climbed to 3-4 and the forecast showed no more rain would arrive as visibility improved.

That would not stop Gasly bringing out a yellow flag shortly after when he chopped the inside kerb at Turn 7 to spin, that preceded Russell continuing straight on at Turn 12.

Alex Albon, Williams FW44