Max Verstappen in P7 after third free practice in Melbourne

Published on 09 April 2022 by Kees-Jan Koster

Max Verstappen finished the third free practice session for the Australian Grand Prix in seventh position. The Dutchman set a 1:19.809 on medium tyres in a difficult session. McLaren driver Lando Norris finished first with a 1:19.117, followed by Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc. Max’ teammate Sergio Perez set the third time. The Spaniards Fernando Alonzo and Carlos Sainz and local hero Daniel Ricciardo completed the top six.

At 13:00 hours local time the lights at the end of the pitlane from Albert Park Circuit in Melbourne go green. It is 24 degrees and cloudy. The third free practice session gets underway slowly: Alfa driver Guanyu Zhou is the first to come out on track. Followed by Valtteri Bottas, Kevin Magnussen and Mick Schumacher, but most drivers stay in the pitlane for a while.

The drivers start the third session knowing that one of the three DRS zones is removed because of safety reasons, this brings the total of DRS zones to three.

Lando Norris is the first to set a time, a 1:21.247 on soft tyres. After eight minutes comes Max out on track with medium tyres on his RB18. He comes out together with Sebastian Vettel, who had to pay a 5,000 euro fine, for taking a scooter from a Marshall to drive back to the pitlane, after his Aston Martin came to a halt.

Max pushes Norris from first position with his first timed lap of 1:21.178. But a couple of seconds later takes Max’ teammate at Oracle Red Bull Racing, Sergio Perez, this place. He sets a 1:21.024, on the medium tyres. Then first place is exchanged between Leclerc, Sainz, Alonzo and Perez.

After twenty minutes there is a short yellow flag period when Lewis Hamilton goes through the gravel. A couple of seconds later the session is red flagged when Vettel crashes in turn ten. Not making his first Formula 1 weekend after his corona infection any better. The team has a lot of work to do to repair his Aston Martin before qualifying. This time Vettel chooses to sit at the back of a scooter and let a marshal bring him back to the team.

After ten minutes, halfway the session, the Vettel’s damaged car is removed, and the track is cleared. The cars are scrambling to get back on track. Pierre Gasly is the first driver waiting for the lights to go green, but Verstappen drives around him and is the first to come back out on track. At the time the world champion is in eighth position. He is on his way to set a quick time, but spins at the end of his lap, after which he can continue. But on the radio Max says he did not understand why he spun and has trouble finding the balance of his car.

With twenty minutes on the clock, most drivers are doing qualifying simulations. The top six is formed by Perez, Alonso, Leclerc, Verstappen, Norris and Sainz. All of them set their time on the soft tyre, except for Verstappen who took fourth position on the medium tyre.

The Mercedes drivers seem to have to fight the car this session. George Russell also goes of the track a couple of times and both drivers suffer a lot from porpoising. With ten minutes to go, Max comes out on track on soft tyres. He has to abort his first quick lap when going off because of some understeer. On his second attempt on the soft tyre, he abort visibly frustrated.

With only four minutes to go the drama is complete when Aston Martin Lance Stroll crashes in the tyre barriers in turn 11. Giving the team even more work for qualifying. The session is not restarted and so the final free practice session comes to a premature end.

Contest GP Australia: win a by Max signed 1:4 Dutch GP 2021 scale model helmet!

Results third free practice Australia: