EMILIA ROMAGNA GP – Oscar Piastri leads McLaren one-two by three-tenths in third practice
Oscar Piastri led a McLaren one-two in third practice for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, the Australian set a 15.529 on soft tyres going three-tenths faster than teammate Lando Norris. The fastest times came at the end of the session in a scramble to get out on the softs after Sergio Perez crashed with under ten minutes to go.
But Piastri had already gone to the top of the times before Sergio Perez crashed at the Variante Alta and caused the session to be stopped with five minutes to go. That gave everyone just one lap right at the end of session, not many did improve in the final flurry.
But both McLarens managed to push Carlos Sainz to third with Norris almost a tenth and a half faster than his former teammate while Charles Leclerc was two hundredths behind.
Leclerc had muscled his way past several cars including Sainz with an aggressive out lap as the clock ticked down. But having got by Piastri and Alpine’s Pierre Gasly on the run to start his last lap, Leclerc’s opening sector was slower than his personal best and he backed off.
Just two-hundredths split the Ferrari drivers and it’s not clear whether they would have been faster than Piastri had they completed their final runs on the soft tyres
The Monacan went fourth fastest ahead of George Russell by eight thousandths. Max Verstappen was sixth, both the three-time champion and Mercedes complained about ride-high issues. Red Bull had made significant changes to their car overnight and didn’t complete any representative laps on the soft tyres due to Perez’s crash.
Verstappen, on the mediums, was three-tenths slower than Sainz, on the softs, at the halfway point of the session and did not report any major issues with the car’s handling. But looked more competitive than he had on a difficult Friday but his fast lap was interrupted by Perez’s crash. However, he did manage to complete his first sector, and that was slower than Piastri’s.
Mercedes look like the next team behind the McLaren, Ferrari and Red Bull, but could face a battle with RB’s Yuki Tsunoda, who has been quick all weekend.
However that didn’t see them march back towards the front, the Dutchman eight-tenths off the lead and ahead of Alex Albon by a tenth. Esteban Ocon was eighth going six hundredths faster than Lance Stroll with Nico Hulkenberg completing the top ten.
Stroll’s teammate Fernando Alonso made a rare mistake, he lost the rear through the second Rivazza thanks to oversteer crashing bring out the red flag midway through the session. That left him eighteenth nearly four tenths behind Lewis Hamilton.
Related
- EMILIA ROMAGNA GP – Charles Leclerc fastest two tenths ahead of Oscar Piastri in second practice
- EMILIA ROMAGNA GP – Charles Leclerc fastest a tenth ahead of George Russell in FP1
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