Max in P2 in third free practice Saudi-Arabia

Published on 26 March 2022 by Kees-Jan Koster

Max Verstappen finished second in the third and final free practice session for the Saudi-Arabian Grand Prix. The Dutchman was with a time of 1:29.768 only 33 thousandths of a second slower than the quickest man Charles Leclerc on the nerve-rackingly fast street circuit of Jeddah. Red Bull Racing teammate Sergio Perez set the third quickest time, while Carlos Sainz and Valtteri Bottas completed the top five.

After the Friday sessions on the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, it was for long uncertain if the Grand Prix weekend would continue. Due to a missile strike only ten kilometres away from the circuit there had been hours of talks between the drivers, team bosses, Formula 1 and authorities, after which it was decided to continue the race weekend.

The third free practice session in Jeddah is the last session in daylight, as both qualifying and the race will be held under artificial light. Kevin Magnussen in his Haas and both Alfa Romeos of Valtteri Bottas and the Chinese rookie Guanyu Zhou are the first to come out on track. Most drivers do some installation laps, before the Ferraris of Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc set the first times.

Verstappen comes out as last of the drivers with just under 40 minutes to go. Max drives two slow laps on soft tyres, after which he drives his first flying lap and sets a time of 1:30.453, good for fourth position. After a cooldown lap Max does another two quick laps. This time Max sets the fastest time (1:29.768) at which he is the first driver to set a time under the 1 minute 30. After seven laps Max returns to the Red Bull Racing garage.

With 25 minutes to go, Pierre Gasly comes to a stop at the end of the pitlane with his AlphaTauri. The Frenchman can, with help from a couple of marshals, push his car back into the pitlane, so it is not needed to stop the session.

Max comes out again during the last fifteen minutes of the session. Again, with soft tyres on his RB18. Verstappen is heading for a good improvement of his lap time, but the Dutchman goes wide in turn 22. After driving over the curbs he decides to abort his lap and returns to the pits. Charles Leclerc goes a little bit faster than Max when the flag gets waved, finishing the session in first position. The Red Bulls of Verstappen and Perez finish in second and third, with Carlos Sainz in P4. Valtteri Bottas does very well for Alfa Romeo by finishing in fifth position. The Mercedes are nowhere, with Lewis Hamilton in eleventh and teammate George Russell in P14.

At 6pm Dutch time qualifying for the Saudi-Arabian Grand Prix will start.

Contest GP Saudi Arabia: win a by Max signed World Champion #1 cap!

Results third free practice Saudi Arabia: