Kimi Antonelli finished fastest in Free Practice 3 ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix from McLaren’s Lando Norris, as Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton suffered a crash at the end of the session.
Antonelli continued his strong Friday form and finished just over one-tenth faster than Norris in the final one-hour session of practice, while Ferrari face a race against time to repair Hamilton’s car ahead of Qualifying later on Saturday.
Despite the light turning green at the end of the pit lane at 1230 local time, there was no rush from drivers and teams to head out on track, as it took until approaching the 20-minute mark for most of the field to appear in the sunny and dry conditions.
Hamilton became the first of the leading runners to post a time, leaving the Ferrari driver fastest on a 1m 47.436s with Pirelli’s soft tyre, as McLaren’s Oscar Piastri was only fractions slower a few minutes later.
Racing Bulls’ Arvid Lindblad continued to impress as the rookie briefly moved to the top of the leaderboard, before Hamilton asserted himself as the fastest driver with a 1m 46.789s – but with Antonelli, Russell and Verstappen yet to venture out on track.
Verstappen’s opening salvo put him second, four tenths adrift of Hamilton, but it took until nearly 25 minutes to elapse before the Mercedes duo appeared as the team looked to complete Qualifying simulations in more relevant conditions.
Antonelli launched himself to the top of the times with a 1m 45.990s, leaving him eight tenths clear of Hamilton, but Russell could only manage P4, 1.2s adrift of his team mate and complaining about a lack of straight-line speed, having lost six tenths in the first sector alone.
Also suffering problems was Isack Hadjar, the Red Bull driver – who will serve a grid penalty this weekend due to new power unit components – coming to a stop in the pit lane exit before being recovered to the garage.
Once back out on track, Hadjar almost collided with the rear of Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin into Turn 8, having locked up on his out lap before aborting his flying lap next time around, stating “nothing is ready, everything is too cold”.
Russell was soon back out as well for a second attempt, and although improving in the first sector, was slower in the remaining two sectors to still sit one second behind Antonelli.
Verstappen also improved inside the final 15 minutes, jumping up to P2 and within two tenths of Antonelli despite dipping a wheel in the gravel on the exit of Turn 9.
Times continued to improve, as Russell moved to within four tenths of his team mate, but was quickly demoted back to P4 as Norris jumped ahead of both the Briton and Verstappen.
Antonelli had to abort his second flying lap after running wide at La Source, reporting “I didn’t get the gear in”, before going again inside the final 10 minutes and failing to improve after a big slide through the Les Combes chicane.
It left the Italian’s 1m 45.990s as the quickest time and less than two tenths clear of Norris, followed by Verstappen and Russell.
Hamilton was P5 but the seven-time World Champion suffered a crash on his final lap in an incident similar to Pierre Gasly’s crash in FP2.
The Briton lost the rear through the left-hander of Turn 13, heading into the gravel and glancing the barrier before bringing his damaged Ferrari to a stop down the road.
Team mate Charles Leclerc was P6, with Piastri heading the Audis of Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto, as Hadjar finished P10.
The Frenchman was followed by the two Racing Bulls of Lindblad and Liam Lawson, as Ollie Bearman (Haas) split the Alpines of Franco Colapinto and Gasly.
Alex Albon (Williams) was P16, followed by the Cadillac of Valtteri Bottas and the second Williams of Carlos Sainz, who is under investigation for a yellow flag infringement.
The order was completed by Esteban Ocon (Haas), Sergio Perez (Cadillac) and the Aston Martins of Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll ahead of Qualifying later today.
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