Max Verstappen will head into qualifying for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix after being the fastest driver in final practice.
The world champion’s best lap of a 1’28.412 was just under two tenths of a second quicker than Charles Leclerc, with Sergio Perez third in the second Red Bull.
Before the final practice session even began, the paddock was shocked by the news that Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz Jnr would miss the rest of the weekend with appendicitis, with F2 racer Oliver Bearman taking over in Sainz’s place. Bearman successfully completed his sole hour of practice without incident, setting the tenth fastest time at the end of the session.
The session was red flagged with just under 20 minutes remaining following a heavy crash for Zhou Guanyu after the Sauber driver lost control through turn seven and crashed into the outside TecPro barrier at turn eight. Although the Medical Car was deployed, Zhou had already climbed out of his car unaided, seemingly unhurt. Zhou’s participation in qualifying is now dependent on Sauber repairing his car in time for Q1.
After the session restarted with five minutes remaining, the majority of drivers headed out on soft tyres for a final push lap. However, none beat Verstappen’s earlier best time with Leclerc improving to within two tenths of the world champion and Perez half a second slower in third.
George Russell was fourth for Mercedes ahead of Lando Norris and the two Aston Martins of Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll. Oscar Piastri was eighth, with Lewis Hamilton and Bearman completing the top 10.
Logan Sargeant failed to set a lap time after striking the wall at the apex of turn 22 on his first push lap of the session, breaking his left-front suspension and spending the remainder of final practice in the garage.
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2024 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix third practice result
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2024 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix combined practice times
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2024 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix
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