DUTCH GP – Pierre Gasly fastest in a heavily interrupted third practice by nearly a tenth and a half
Pierre Gasly was fastest in a heavily interrupted third practice for the Dutch Grand Prix, the Frenchman set a 20.311 on the intermediates going nearly a tenth and a half faster than Kevin Magnussen. The session was red flagged for forty minutes following a huge crash for Logan Sargeant just after ten minutes into the session.
The Williams driver appeared to lock up exiting Hunserg (Turn Four), in the slippery conditions he appeared to touch the grass sending him into a spin. The following contact set the car on fire and spread debris over the track damaging the barrier, as well as setting his car on fire likely caused by a ruptured fuel line.
Sargeant was able to extricate himself from the car swiftly, although the nature of the impact had caused heavy damage to the Armco barrier and left a line of residue along the track. When the session restarted all the drivers apart from Guanyu Zhou managed to get a lap in. Nico Hulkenberg was another to bring out the Red flag.
The Haas driver had a moment at Hans Ernst (Turn Eleven), which he described as the same issue as Friday when he touched the brakes and locked up. But the damage to the front wing meant he was noted by the stewards for driving his car in an unsafe condition.
Valtteri Bottas was third going over two-tenths faster than Lando Norris, and Fernando Alonso put his Aston Martin fifth. Alonso had topped the session before the final attempts on a drying track, before Gasly put in a time to go fastest, followed by Magnussen, Bottas and Norris. Esteban Ocon put his Alpine sixth, nearly two-tenths behind Alonso.
Oscar Piastri put his McLaren seventh ahead of Lance Stroll by two-tenths, followed by Hulkenberg and Carlos Sainz. Sainz again denied key track time, after a gearbox issue on Friday restricted him to just seven laps in second practice.
Piastri had set his fastest time just before the session was red flagged and didn’t get a second attempt. Zhou and Sargeant following their incidents stayed eleventh and twelfth.
George Russell was thirteenth going a tenth and a half ahead of Alex Albon, the Williams driver splitting the two Mercedes, with Lewis Hamilton nearly a tenth behind. Charles Leclerc was sixteenth two tenth ahead of Max Verstappen, the Red Bull under investigation for crossing the white line on pit exit trying to pass Piastri and Russell.
Neither Yuki Tsunoda nor Sergio Perez got a lap in at the end of the session, having missed the chequered flag to start their final runs.