It’s Saturday and the first F1 session of the day has concluded with Charles leading the group. After some close calls and red flags, let’s look at what happened in FP3.
Ferrari looking strong
Ferrari look to have found something special so far at Silverstone. Hamilton showed yesterday why he is a 9 time winner at this circuit and Leclerc followed suit. In today’s free practice session, Charles Leclerc continued his dominant performance, topping the table at the chequered flag. Despite a small snap trying to warm his tyres, he looked strong all session.
Unlike yesterday, Hamilton seemed to struggle more than his teammate. Small errors and unfortunate timings with red flags meant that the Brit only managed a time quick enough for P11, 0.834 seconds behind Leclerc.
Traffic becoming an issue
A few drivers today expressed their annoyance with traffic and other drivers in their way. One such driver was Alex Albon who came onto the radio to complain about a slow moving Aston Martin. Albon was forced to trade the car off the track to avoid hitting the other car.
The Aston Martin of Lance Stroll seemed to struggle today. Like yesterday, the Canadian driver managed to lose traction in his car, today losing his rear at Luffield. He kept the car on track but was left with flat spots on his tyres. Lance finished FP3 in P19.
Red Flag Chaos
The first of the red flags came out due to debris on the track at Stowe. Replays showed that the debris came from Oliver Bearman’s HAAS. The red flag caused numerous drivers to abandon their push laps, including Hamilton, Lawson and Gasly. The debris was cleared and the session was green flagged with 4 minutes remaining.
Bearman found a lot of trouble in today’s session, hitting the barriers in the pit lane and damaging his car. He will hope for a stronger qualifying session this afternoon.
The second red flag came right at the end of FP3, ending the session entirely. Gabriel Bortoleto lost his rear, catching the grass and breaking his suspension. The Brazilian driver reported he was okay and climbed out of his own car. He finished the session P16.
The session ended in chaos but the top three consisted of Leclerc, Piastri and Verstappen, who found pace in the third practice session.
It will be exciting to see whether McLaren will dominate qualifying or if Ferrari will continue to give them a challenge.