Cloudy. Drying track. Air +18C, highway +24C
The bad weather in Zandvoort only gave a break on Friday afternoon. On Saturday morning it started raining again, the weather forecast promised rain all day with short breaks. This did not affect the activity of the fans, but it is obvious that on the Dutch track an orange raincoat should be included with the ticket.
At the start of the session, the drivers went out on heavy rain tyres. There was no standing water and Piastri was the first to switch to intermediate tyres, but many stayed in the pits to save a set of tyres for more optimal conditions.
In the 11th minute, Hulkenberg damaged his car for the second time this weekend, flying off the track after locking the tyres under braking at Turn 11, and returning to the pits with a broken front wing.
A few minutes later Alonso drove into the gravel without any consequences for the car. After a few more red flags appeared – Sargent crashed the car badly. It caught fire and kept burning, the American had to jump out and firefighters were able to extinguish the flames.
The Williams mechanics have put their heads together – it will not be easy to assemble a car for Sargent at the start of qualifying. Logan was sent to the medical centre – the dangerous overload sensor was activated, but nothing happened – he was quickly released. The American is confidently leading the way this year when it comes to the costs of restoring the cars he crashed.
The smoking car was loaded onto a tow truck, marshals collected debris, cleaned the asphalt of oil and restored the protective barrier.
The rain stopped. The break continued. 43 minutes after the incident and two minutes before the end of the session, the light at the pit lane exit turned green. In fact, the third practice was disrupted.
In the pit lane, Verstappen overtook two people and drove with his wheels over the white line. The racers managed to drive one fast lap on the dried asphalt, where Pierre Gasly showed the best time: 1:20.311.
The third part of free races
| Pilot | Team | Time | Difference | Circles |
| 1. P. Gasly | Alps | 1:20.311 | – | 5 |
| 2. K. Magnussen | Hare | 1:20.450 | +0.139 | 9 |
| 3. V. Bottas | Sauber | 1:21.155 | +0.844 | 7 |
| 4. L. Norris | McLaren | 1:21,387 | +1,076 | 6 |
| 5. F. Alonso | Aston Martin | 1:21.461 | +1,150 | 6 |
| 6. E.Okon | Alps | 1:21.643 | +1,332 | 4 |
| 7. O. Piastri | McLaren | 1:21.850 | +1,539 | 10 |
| 8. L. Walk | Aston Martin | 1:21,941 | +1,630 | 7 |
| 9. N. Hulkenberg | Hare | 1:22.354 | +2,043 | 5 |
| 10. K. Sainz | Ferrari | 1:22.589 | +2,278 | 6 |
| 11. G. Zhou | Sauber | 1:23.240 | +2,929 | 5 |
| 12. L. Sargent | Williams | 1:23.287 | +2,976 | 4 |
| 13. D.Russell | Mercedes | 1:23,958 | +3,647 | 7 |
| 14. A. Elbon | Williams | 1:24.007 | +3,696 | 5 |
| 15. L.Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:24.098 | +3,787 | 3 |
| 16. S. Leclerc | Ferrari | 1:24.158 | +3,847 | 4 |
| 17. M. Verstappen | Red Bull | 1:24.360 | +4.049 | 3 |
| 18. D.Ricciardo | RB | 1:25.433 | +5,122 | 7 |
| 19. Yu.Tsunoda | RB | no time | – | 4 |
| 20. C.Perez | Red Bull | no time | – | 2 |
Source: F1 News
I am Christopher Clyde, an experienced journalist and content writer with a passion for sports. I have been writing about Formula 1 news for the past five years and am currently employed as an author at athletistic.com, one of the top sports websites in the US.
