LE CASTELLET, France: World champion and series leader Max Verstappen sizzled in the sun on Saturday when he topped the times for Red Bull ahead of both Ferrari drivers in third and final practice session at the French Grand Prix.
Making the most of a superior straight-line speed, the 24-year-old Dutchman clocked a best lap in one minute and 32.272 seconds to outpace Carlos Sainz in the leading Ferrari by three-tenths of a second.
Sainz, who claimed his maiden Formula One triumph at the British Grand Prix earlier in July, will start Sunday’s race from the back of the grid alongside Jan Magnussen of Haas after the two Ferrari-powered cars took more new engine parts.
Charles Leclerc, who trimmed Verstappen’s advantage in the title race to 38 points by winning the Austrian Grand Prix, was third fastest six-tenths down on the pace.
Seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton was fourth for Mercedes ahead of Sergio Perez in the second Red Bull and George Russell, in the second Mercedes.
It was a measure of Verstappen’s dominant pace that he was more than a second quicker than his Red Bull team-mate on another hot day in the south of France.
Two-time champion Fernando Alonso was seventh for Alpine with a late lap to lift him ahead of Alex Albon of Williams, Lando Norris of McLaren and Yuki Tsunoda of Alpha Tauri.
Both German drivers Mick Schumacher and four-time champion Sebastian Vettel endured difficult sessions and wound up 19th and 20th respectively for the Haas and Aston Martin teams after completing only 12 and 11 laps.
In scorching conditions, the session began with only seven cars venturing out and Perez setting the first lap time in 1:33.628 after seven minutes — a time obliterated immediately by Verstappen in 1:32.837 — but little else for the sell-out holiday crowd to enjoy.
As the air temperature rose to 34 degrees, the fans raised a cheer for Pierre Gasly as he passed the grandstand named after him before the Mercedes set times more than 1.5 seconds adrift of the champion. “1.7?” said Hamilton. “Jeeze...”
Ferrari were also struggling to match the Red Bull pace and Leclerc, pushing hard, spun through a full 360 degrees on his hard tires before Hamilton and Yuki Tsunoda of Alfa Romeo each survived brief ‘moments’ in pursuit.
Vertappen’s pace on medium tires remained the standard to catch as his rivals tested ‘softs’ and ‘hards’ before galvanizing themselves for a late flurry of qualifying simulation runs.
With 12 minutes remaining, both Leclerc and Sainz had improved to second and third, but were still 0.1 seconds adrift, with Hamilton fourth, four-tenths down. At this time, Red Bull were still to use soft tires.
The stubborn Sainz persisted and went top after 51 minutes of the hour, replacing Verstappen in 1:32.626, an advantage of 0.182 to enthuse the ‘prancing horse’ fans sweltering in the open grandstands.
Finally taking softs, Verstappen re-joined the fray to beat the Spaniard by 0.354 seconds while Leclerc conceded his tires were ‘dead’, a familiar Ferrari problem at the high-degradation Paul Ricard circuit.
By this time, the track temperature was 57 degrees — hot enough to pose a serious challenge to cars, drivers and teams and certain to make strategy a major factor in Sunday’s race.
Verstappen sizzles in the sun to dominate final practice
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Verstappen sizzles in the sun to dominate final practice
- The 24-year-old Dutchman clocked a best lap in one minute and 32.272 seconds to outpace Carlos Sainz
- Sainz will start Sunday's race from the back of the grid alongside Jan Magnussen of Haas
Guardiola hails Man City’s ‘massive’ win over Newcastle
- Guardiola’s second-placed side closed the gap on leaders Arsenal to just two points with their tense victory at the Etihad Stadium
MANCHESTER, United Kingdom: Pep Guardiola labelled Manchester City’s 2-1 win over Newcastle on Saturday as a “massive” moment in the Premier League title race.
Guardiola’s second-placed side closed the gap on leaders Arsenal to just two points with their tense victory at the Etihad Stadium.
Nico O’Reilly put City ahead in the first half and restored the lead before half-time after Lewis Hall had equalized.
City weren’t at their best in the second half, but they held on to pile pressure on spluttering Arsenal, who travel to Tottenham for the north London derby on Sunday.
Guardiola knew it was essential to make Arsenal sweat.
“Massive. Newcastle is an incredible team, awesome in physicality and speed they have up front. Physicality in the middle. Really tough but the team was unbelievable,” he said.
“It’s coming in best part of the season. Every single game will be similar to today.”
After finishing without a trophy last season, City are back in the hunt for the seventh English title of Guardiola’s reign.
They will have a game in hand on Arsenal after this weekend and are guaranteed to win the title if they win their last 11 league matches.
Guardiola has embarked on an expensive overhaul of City’s squad in the last 12 months, shedding aging stars like Kevin De Bruyne, Ederson and Kyle Walker and bringing in the likes of Marc Guehi, Antoine Semenyo and Rayan Cherki.
The Spaniard is well aware that his new generation largely lacks the experience of winning under the pressure of a title race, which made their gritty success against Newcastle even more meaningful.
“70 percent of the players have never been in that situation, and I don’t play. So we have to live it, they know that every game will be like this,” he said.
“Especially at home, with five home games left. Today was the best crowd of the year, it was unbelievable with our people, really proud to be manager of these incredible people and fans.
“Of course in terms of points it’s important, but we have to improve to have chance to compete until the end. Now we deserve three more days off. Then another battle in Leeds.”
Guardiola singled out O’Reilly for praise after the young England midfielder’s pair of clinical finishes showed he won’t be affected by the strain of chasing Arsenal.
“Nico give us in the middle that physicality that we need. He now plays in his position,” he said.
“He has always played that, he is so complete and so young. I am really pleased the academy produced these incredible players, Nico, Phil (Foden), Rico (Lewis).”
