In a Formula 1 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix third free practice session interrupted twice by red flags, Oscar Piastri led McLaren to snatch the top two places on the timesheet from Ferrari at the death.
In the final 60 minutes of preparation ahead of qualifying, Ferrari looked set to continue its Friday form before Piastri’s late lunge. Fernando Alonso’s crash at Turn 18 with less than 35 minutes left on the clock brought out the first red flag.
With under six minutes remaining, Perez lost control through the first part of the 14-15 chicane and could not prevent his car from hitting the barriers on the other side of the track.
Carlos Sainz had been atop the times with a 1m16.067s when the session was stopped, while Charles Leclerc, who had headed both Friday practices, was just 0.02s adrift in second place.
McLaren continued to show progress with its upgrades at Imola as Piastri ended up 0.17s clear of the Ferraris, ahead even of Max Verstappen.
After a difficult Friday, Red Bull found more pace in the final 60-minute session before qualifying, although Verstappen was still 0.3s off the benchmark. Lando Norris, who won in Miami, was fifth before the second red flag.
The Mercedes drivers had their second runs on their initial set of soft tyres interrupted by Alonso’s accident. When they switched to fresh rubber for one last qualifying simulation, Russell had just completed a lap to jump ahead of Verstappen when Perez lost control at the first part of the 14-15 chicane and hit the wall. That meant Hamilton could not complete his effort, and the session was interrupted again with less than six minutes to go. While green flags quickly waved, the Briton could only manage 17th in the busy track conditions.
Piastri and Norris both improved their times in the closing stages, moving above the Ferrari pair. The Australian set a new benchmark of 1m15.529s, with his teammate 0.3s adrift in second.
Alex Albon took seventh for Williams in the final run before qualifying, with Esteban Ocon eighth for Alpine. Lance Stroll showed an improvement compared to Friday and was joined by Nico Hulkenberg in the top 10.
Zhou Guanyu had an unfortunate FP3, unable to complete a flying lap due to the red flags, leaving him at the bottom of the timesheet.
Emilia Romagna Grand Prix FP3: McLaren steals top two from Ferrari. Author：Sports UEFA.Please indicate the source when reproduced：https://www.sportsuefa.com/speedy-f1/9228.html
