13:11
Hamilton with a respectful distance
Lewis Hamilton chooses the soft rubber for his first ride. However, the Brit is more than 1.6 seconds behind Max Verstappen’s Red Bull.
13:10
Perez takes second place
Sergio Perez starts the 3rd practice with a second place. He is almost half a second behind his teammate Max Verstappen’s current best time.
13:08
Max Verstappen’s new best lap
Max Verstappen sets the first target time in the 3rd practice session. The Dutchman needs 1:32.837 minutes to drive a car around the 5.8-kilometre circuit. He was running on medium tires.
13:06
Mercedes on the track
Lewis Hamilton, who will complete his 300th Grand Prix tomorrow, and George Russell are also out on track now, doing the first laps. However, there is still not much activity.
13:04
High asphalt temperature
Southern Europe is still struggling with a heat wave, although it is a bit colder than yesterday. The outside temperature is currently 28 degrees, but the asphalt is already 50 degrees.
13:03
Vettel drives out
Sebastian Vettel is now also steering his Aston Martin onto the course. There doesn’t seem to be a great rush today – only five drivers have left the pit lane.
13:00
Start 3rd training
The traffic lights are green, the 3rd practice session in Le Castellet has started. Sergio Perez is the first driver to steer his Red Bull onto the track.
12:48 p.m
Schumacher is still behind
Haas started the weekend in Le Castellet with his usual calm. Mick Schumacher finished Friday in penultimate place. Some changes and experiments on the car did not bring the hoped-for steps. Nevertheless, the 23-year-old remained optimistic and is aiming for the next points. “If we are in a good starting position and start from the top ten, then I see no reason why it could not work,” said Schumacher, adding: “The race here is usually pretty boring.”
12:41
Aston Martin lacks the pace
Once again the Aston Martin drivers lined up outside the top ten on Friday. Sebastian Vettel and team-mate Lance Stroll finished 13th and 15th and will probably primarily be fighting for a place in Q2 later in qualifying. Vettel does not expect a performance explosion. “I think we’re similar to Austria in terms of our position in the field,” explained the Heppenheimer, adding: “It’s not a huge leap, but that wasn’t to be expected either.”
12:34
Setback for Sainz
However, Carlos Sainz will have to tackle tomorrow’s race with a handicap. After major engine damage at the Austrian Grand Prix, new control electronics were installed in the Spaniard’s car, meaning that he had to drop ten places on the starting grid on Sunday. Ferrari will probably swap the rest of the drive as the weekend progresses, meaning Sainz will start from the back.
12:26
Ferrari ahead on Friday
Yesterday, Friday, both Ferrari drivers dominated the time table. Carlos Sainz had secured the best time of 1:32.527 minutes in the second practice session, around a tenth of a second faster than his team-mate Charles Leclerc. Competitor Max Verstappen in the Red Bull followed with a respectable gap of more than half a second. “It was definitely a positive Friday. I didn’t do many laps with little fuel, but every lap was quite competitive,” Sainz said with satisfaction afterwards.
Welcome to the 3rd training
Hello and welcome to the 3rd Formula 1 practice session at Le Castellet. From 1:00 p.m. the track will be open for one last test before qualifying!