FP3: Verstappen heads dominant Red Bull one-two in final practice

F1 Grand Prix, GP Saudi Arabia, Jeddah Street Circuit

Reigning world champion Max Verstappen set the benchmark in the final practice at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix with Ferrari drivers Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz having struggled for pace in the crucial session ahead of qualifying.

Max Verstappen led the way early on despite using the Pirelli's hard compound, demostrating his RB19's eye-catching aerodynamic efficiency. The Dutchman then set a 1m28.485s on the red-walled tyres to head the final session ahead of his teammate Sergio Perez.

The Mexican endured mechanical woes yesterday, and was hopeful to close the gap to Verstappen on Saturday, but the first indications show that he lost further connection to the reigning champion as the pair was separated by over six tenths of a second.

Aston Martin continued where they left off yesterday with Fernando ALonso and Lance Stroll occupying the third and fourth spot on the timesheets respectively.

It was a much more promising session for Lewis Hamilton as he rounded out the top five while his team mate George Russell took P11, but they were only separated by two tenths of a second.

Following a raft of technical problems at round one of the 2023 F1 season, McLaren displayed good performance in the final session. Lando Norris set the seventh fastest time with his rookie team mate Oscar Piastri ended up P8, racking up an impressive mileage with 23 laps.

After displaying increcidble one-lap pace yesterday, Alpine started the final practice in a strong fashion, but Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon finished the 60-minute practice only in P9 and P14 respectively in the ultra-tight mid-field battle.

Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen took P13 and P17 for Haas respectively ahead of Ala Romeo's Valtteri Bottas- The AlphaTauris rounded out the timesheets with Yuki Tsunoda 19th on medium compounds and Nyck de Vries 20th having failed to set a time due to a power unit issue.