The Dutchman is the fastest in the third free practice session at Le Castellet in front of the Spaniard of Ferrari who mounts the fourth power unit and therefore will start from the bottom. Leclerc working on the set-up is third. At 4 pm the qualifications to define the starting grid
by the correspondent Giusto Ferronato
23 July
– le castellet (france)
More than a session, a real set-up puzzle. Red Bull and Ferrari used the free thirds of the French GP to experiment with solutions in view of qualifying scheduled at 4pm and above all of tomorrow’s race. Max Verstappen set the best time in 1’32 ”272 with medium tires, but the Dutchman worked hard to evaluate tire wear on race pace, which will obviously be decisive on Sunday. And Red Bull has proved to be fearful. Charles Leclerc did the same by exiting after 20 minutes with hard rubber, also making a harmless spin and then closing with the third with red rubber. The Monegasque seemed slower than yesterday’s free practice and reported some tire wear problems, confirming that work was done at the Cavallino to find a compromise between speed and load that will count especially on Sunday. In short, Red and Ferrari did not force, but above all sought solutions: the first response on who has worked best we will see in the afternoon with qualifying.
sainz penalty
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The second time was established by Carlos Sainz, but the Spaniard, as expected from yesterday, will have to start from the back of the grid because, in addition to the ECU announced yesterday, he replaced the endothermic unit, MGU-H, MGU-K and turbo. Same substitutions for Kevin Magnussen’s Haas, which will suffer the same penalty: both are destined for the tenth row of tomorrow’s GP, with an advanced start of the two for the one who will set the best time in qualifying. Sainz will therefore be sentenced to a comeback race from the back, but Ferrari had no choice because taking a penalty on this track should be less penalizing than a start from the back in the next race in Hungary. Intervention also on Leclerc’s single-seater, which mounted the seventh exhaust (out of 8) of the season and this will not entail penalties.
perez in trouble
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The game will still be all between Red Bull and Ferrari, as Lewis Hamilton’s fourth time came almost a second behind Verstappen. Fifth time for Sergio Perez’s other Red Bull, who confirmed that he was not at ease. Sixth George Russell in front of Fernando Alonso’s Alpine. Followed by Albon, Norris, Tsunoda and Ricciardo. Fourteenth Bottas with Alfa Romeo. Last time for Sebastian Vettel’s Aston Martin. At 4 pm the qualification to define the starting grid.
July 23, 2022 – 2.15pm
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