F1 – Sainz sets the pace in final practice for home race in Spain as top four are separated by less than 0.1s

Dwelling hero Carlos Sainz took high spot in a good ultimate observe session for the 2024 FIA Formulation 1 Spanish Grand Prix through which the highest 4 drivers coated by lower than a tenth of a second. Ferrari driver Sainz completed simply 0.030s forward of McLaren’s Lando Norris with Charles Leclerc third forward of Purple Bull’s Max Verstappen. 

The ultimate hour of observe received off to a gradual begin with Lewis Hamilton the one driver to place a time on the board within the opening minutes. The Mercedes driver set a time of 1:14.178 on Smooth tyres. 

Because the seven-time champion returned to the pits, Verstappen crossed the road to start out his first flying lap of the session but it surely solely netted the Dutchman second behind the Mercedes man. George Russell, within the different Mercedes, then moved forward of each with a Smooth-tyre time of 1:13.431. 

The Mercedes drivers had been then cut up by the Ferrari pairing of Sainz and Leclerc. Native hero Sainz took second, a tenth off Russell’s lap, whereas Leclerc crossed the road simply three-hundredths off his Ferrari team-mate. Norris then emerged and the McLaren driver’s first lap put him second, 0.104s off Russell’s time. 

After a collection of longer runs within the center third of the session, the sector finally started to bolt on new Softs for qualifying simulations. 

Norris backed out of his first lap after encountering visitors halfway by however after pitting briefly he returned to the fray and after a very good first sector the McLaren driver went purple in Sector 2 and when he crossed the road his 1:13.043 jumped him as much as P1. 

Quickly after an incident between Lance Stroll noticed the Mercedes man appear to impede the Aston Martin driver. Hamilton then appeared to again out of Flip 5 to let Stroll by however the Canadian appeared stunned and slid into the aspect of the Mercedes, leaving stewards to announce that they’d examine the conflict after the session. 

Russell then put in his qualifying simulation, ending up 0.121s behind Norris however each Ferrari drivers had been embarking on their flyers and Sainz duly went quickest with a lap of 1:13.013, 0.030s sooner than Norris. Leclerc slotted into third simply seven thousandths of a second additional again. 

Verstappen set three inexperienced sectors on his quali run however the sum of the elements was solely adequate to place him fourth on the time 0.037s off Leclerc and 0.074 behind Sainz. 

Russel was left with fifth place 0.151s off Sainz, with Hamilton two tenths additional again. Pérez ended the session in seventh place forward of Williams’ Alex Albon, Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso and the second McLaren of Oscar Piastri. 

2024 FIA Formulation 1 Spanish Grand Prix – Free Apply 3
1  Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:13.013  19 229.619
2  Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 1:13.043 0.030 14 229.525
3  Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:13.050 0.037 18 229.503
4  Max Verstappen Purple Bull/Honda RBPT 1:13.087 0.074 24 229.386
5  George Russell Mercedes 1:13.164 0.151 20 229.145
6  Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:13.359 0.346 26 228.536
7  Sergio Pérez Purple Bull/Honda RBPT 1:13.723 0.710 19 227.408
8  Alexander Albon Williams/Mercedes 1:13.753 0.740 14 227.315
9  Fernando Alonso Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:13.786 0.773 21 227.213
10  Oscar Piastri McLaren/Mercedes 1:13.907 0.894 14 226.841
11  Esteban Ocon Alpine/Renault 1:13.950 0.937 18 226.709
12  Pierre Gasly Alpine/Renault 1:13.964 0.951 14 226.667
13  Nico Hülkenberg Haas/Ferrari 1:13.975 0.962 20 226.633
14  Valtteri Bottas Sauber/Ferrari 1:14.024 1.011 19 226.483
15  Kevin Magnussen Haas/Ferrari 1:14.074 1.061 27 226.330
16  Daniel Ricciardo RB/Honda RBPT 1:14.161 1.148 17 226.064
17  Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:14.254 1.241 16 225.781
18  Yuki Tsunoda RB/Honda RBPT 1:14.420 1.407 22 225.278
19  Zhou Guanyu Sauber/Ferrari 1:14.572 1.559 17 224.818
20  Logan Sargeant Williams/Mercedes 1:14.729 1.716 12 224.346