FP2 | Surprising top three, as Red Bull will be disappointed once again
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A confusing session meant we saw a top-three without a Red Bull for the second time this weekend. Charles Leclerc topped the timesheet in his Ferrari by just 0.015 seconds ahead of Lando Norris in his McLaren, as Pierre Gasly in his Alpine wrapped up the top three.
Sargeant leads early
A slow start for the big teams, as for the first twenty minutes we saw minimal running from Ferrari, Mercedes, and Red Bull, let some of the other drivers shine. Particularly those in the McLarens and Williams, as Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri continued their top form from Silverstone, while Alex Albon was consistently in the top three. Although perhaps most surprisingly, it was Logan Sargeant who was the fastest earlier, leading for most of the early session.
Tsunoda outshine Ricciardo
As the track was getting worn in as each lap would lay rubber down that would have been washed away in the rain earlier, we kept seeing a muddle up top of the leader border. As halfway through the session, we saw Norris lead the field, ahead of Yuki Tsunoda, who also spent time a lot of time at the top, while the Alpines of Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly were in and about the top five, as well as the HAAS of Nico Hulkenberg. Although it would be the Ferraris that showed early pace, as Leclerc would go straight to the top on his first flying lap on a soft tyre, although Sainz would only manage the top 10 after his lap.
Leclerc finishes strong
Leclerc would continue to lead for the majority of the FP3 session, as Verstappen struggled to find pace on his soft tyres as he began his run, with Sergio Perez flat spotting his new set of soft tyres, it meant he had to resort to another medium long run, not helping with the question building around the security of his seat floating around after his FP1 crash. It would be Norris that continued to impress at the top of the timesheets although his teammate wouldn’t manage to set too many quick laps as the floor on Piastri’s McLaren needed to be fixed.
With 10 minutes left, there started to report on rain in the second sector, which was confirmed by radars, with the top four consisting of four different constructors, it ended a very mixed-up grid in comparison to what we have come to expect as of late. The Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell finished in 16th and 20th, while the Red Bulls wouldn’t impress either as Verstappen wouldn’t even crack the top 10 in 11th, and Perez would disappoint once again in 18th.