So much for summer, sun, sunshine: On the beach in Zandvoort it was rainy and dreary at the beginning of Saturday, and the conditions in the third free practice session for the Dutch Grand Prix were correspondingly difficult. What didn’t bother you at all: Local hero Max Verstappen (Red Bull) ultimately set the best time in a confident manner.
Verstappen set a best time of 1:21.631 minutes with a few minutes to go, as the track was getting faster and faster and all the drivers were on intermediates, which nobody could match. He finished ahead of George Russell (Mercedes) by 0.379 and Sergio Perez (Red Bull) by 1.000 seconds.
But really, all eyes were on Liam Lawson. The 21-year-old New Zealander replaces Daniel Ricciardo, who was sidelined with a fractured metacarpal bone after a training crash on Friday and is also likely to miss Monza in a week’s time.
Despite the difficult weather conditions, Lawson was the driver who trained the most right from the start – in keeping with team boss Franz Tost, who believes that young drivers need to gain as much experience as possible, especially in difficult conditions.
Turns and rides overshadow training
And how difficult the conditions were was shown by numerous small and large spins and rides. Both Ferrari drivers once stood off the track; Charles Leclerc (9./+1.462) was only just able to prevent an impact in turn 1. Or Esteban Ocon (16./Alpine/+2.175), who poked the tip of his nose into the barriers without taking any significant damage.
In the final minutes of the session, when no more rain fell, the lap times tumbled. Lawson ultimately finished 18th, making him the slowest driver on the track. He was 4.712 seconds short of Verstappen’s best time and 2.799 seconds behind teammate Yuki Tsunoda (13th). But he didn’t produce any fender bender, which was his most important assignment so close to qualifying.
Things went better for Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) in 4th place, ahead of Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) in 5th place and Alexander Albon (Williams) in 6th place. Oscar Piastri was among the front runners for long stretches, but slipped down to 7th place at the finish . The top 10 was completed by Valtteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo), Leclerc and Lando Norris (McLaren).
After the announcement of both drivers for 2024, the Haas team seems to be stuck. After Nico Hülkenberg’s departure on Friday, Kevin Magnussen slipped out in the third practice session. Especially bitter because Haas only had two copies left of the new front wing.
Steiner is angry
No wonder team boss Günther Steiner is angry. He was “quite disappointed” with Magnussen, he says: “On an out-lap at turn 3, knowing that after yesterday we only have two new wings left… I’m pretty pissed right now!” He doesn’t make excuses: “The tires are cold on the out-lap. You know that.”
Magnussen had only completed one lap up to that point and had no time until the end of the session. Hülkenberg, actually known as a rain specialist, finished 15th, 2.009 seconds behind.
Incidentally, Magnussen wasn’t the only red flag of the session. It was pouring rain just before half-time when Guanyu Zhou (19th/Alfa Romeo) flew off and got stuck in the gravel bed. At the time, the Chinese was in sixth position, 0.041 seconds behind his team-mate Bottas.