We began round 8 in Berlin with high hopes for free practice 3 following an incredible weekend opener yesterday where Muller secured his maiden win and took the championship lead.
Green Flags & Fast Fines
Gunther was black-and-white flagged for a tire pressure violation after the session went green, and he returned to the pits. Following an investigation, he was fined for the violation.
34 minutes into the session, Mortara was leading, followed by De Vries and Da Costa. As drivers warmed up their tires and began putting in some decent laps, these rankings kept shifting.
Strong Laps vs. Car Problems
Half way through the session Ticktum took the lead with a lap time of 59.326. Cassidy had some torque problems, but it’s unclear what the problem was or why it was happening.
Drugovich briefly sat at the top of the leaderboard with a 57.720, as more than half of the drivers had already entered the pit. The high temps made it easy to warm up the tires; the issue became keeping them from getting too worn out early on.
With 20 minutes remaining, many of these drivers rejoined the session, aiming to avoid traffic. Teams seemed to be getting mixed results as Jaguar RCS Racing spent a portion of the session at the back of the grid.
High Temps & Stress
Porsche’s improvements appeared to be working much better as Wehrlein moved up to P2, but with such close timings the leader board continues its shuffle throughout the session. Rowland and Da Costa had a near miss, but Rowland flew along the inside line on Da Costa and no contact was made.
Rounding out the clock, Gunther took the lead with 57.642 after both Mahindra drivers briefly held P1 and P2 before entering the pit. With ten minutes left, all drivers headed in to the pits; Nato’s car was brought into the pits to try and locate the problem. Meanwhile, Mortara was knocked down further by Rowland’s leap to P3. Cassidy had a small brush with the wall, but he stayed on course and sustained no further damage.
Traffic continued to increase as the session drew to a close, with only half a second separating the top 7. As we concluded free practice 3, Mortara, with a lap time of 57.581 took pole, followed by Gunther in P2 and Barnard in P3. Join us once more as we continue round 8 in Berlin; up next is qualifying.