F1 Saudi Arabian GP: McLaren outpaces rivals by over 0.6s in FP3

McLaren driver Lando Norris pipped team-mate Oscar Piastri to top third practice in Jeddah, with Mercedes’ George Russell appearing to be the squad’s closest competitor.

Haas rookie Oliver Bearman led early running before the rapid McLarens headed out, Piastri leading from Norris by 0.085s after the first barrage of soft-tyre runs on a searing Jeddah circuit which saw track temperatures of over 50C.

Just over 20 mins into the session Max Verstappen briefly hit the front with a 1m29.077s, 0.041s quicker than Piastri, but the Australian soon retaliated with a 1m28.605s, while Norris reclaimed second. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc moved up to third before a better lap from Verstappen saw the Dutchman return to the top three.

On their fourth run Piastri and Norris truly turned up the wick, with Piastri leading his team-mate with his 1m27.513s time, 0.150s ahead of Norris and just a tenth shy of last year’s pole time set by Verstappen.

Piastri failed to improve on his final run, but Norris did, leapfrogging his team-mate with a 1m27.489s.

Having sat out the early running in unrepresentative conditions, George Russell jumped to fifth after the halfway mark and then set a 1m28.214s to move up to third ahead of Leclerc.

But making inroads on McLaren’s scorching pace appeared difficult, with Russell’s last effort still six tenths adrift of the leading papaya pair, the dominance of which may have been exaggerated by the hot daytime conditions.

A late effort bumped Verstappen up from sixth to fourth, 0.845s behind, although the reigning world champion didn’t complete as many laps as the other frontrunners. The Dutchman noted problems with “weird engine braking” on his runs.

Ferrari had no answer for McLaren’s pace either, with Leclerc shipping almost nine tenths in fifth as he reported feeling on the limit of what the SF-25 is capable of, ahead of the impressive Williams pair of Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz.

Tsunoda lost some early running as the team was still repairing his RB21 following his late crash in FP2, but after thanking his mechanics for their efforts the Japanese driver then slotted into the top 10 in ninth, ahead of the second Mercedes of Andrea Kimi Antonelli.

It was another difficult session for Lewis Hamilton in the second Ferrari, having seemingly not found any answers to get his soft tyres in a better operating window after an equally tricky Friday. The seven-time world champion ended behind Isack Hadjar down in 12th, 1.291s from Norris.

Qualifying for the 2024 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix gets under way at 8pm local Arabian time, 5pm GMT.

F1 Saudi Arabian GP results – FP3

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Cla	Driver	#		Chassis	Engine	Laps	Time	Interval	Tyres	km/h
1	L. NorrisMcLaren	4		McLaren	Mercedes	18	1’27.489		S	254.047
2	O. PiastriMcLaren	81		McLaren	Mercedes	19	+0.024 1’27.513	0.024	S	253.978
3	G. RussellMercedes	63		Mercedes	Mercedes	17	+0.627 1’28.116	0.603	S	252.240
4	M. VerstappenRed Bull Racing	1		Red Bull	Red Bull	14	+0.845 1’28.334	0.218	S	251.617
5	C. LeclercFerrari	16		Ferrari	Ferrari	21	+0.883 1’28.372	0.038	S	251.509
6	A. AlbonWilliams	23		Williams	Mercedes	16	+0.900 1’28.389	0.017	S	251.461
7	C. SainzWilliams	55		Williams	Mercedes	15	+1.081 1’28.570	0.181	S	250.947
8	P. GaslyAlpine	10		Alpine	Renault	16	+1.136 1’28.625	0.055	S	250.791
9	Y. TsunodaRed Bull Racing	22		Red Bull	Red Bull	14	+1.181 1’28.670	0.045	S	250.664
10	A. AntonelliMercedes	12		Mercedes	Mercedes	18	+1.190 1’28.679	0.009	S	250.638
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