FP3: Latifi beats Leclerc to top final practice

Williams driver Nicholas Latifi ended the third and last follow session of the Hungarian Grand Prix on prime, beating Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc by over six tenths of a second. F1Technical’s Balázs Szabó studies from the Hungaroring paddock.

The long-expected rain arrived when the lights went inexperienced for the ultimate follow session on the Hungaroring. Though there was torrential rain at first, drivers didn’t hesitate to remain within the garages, venturing out within the damp and difficult circumstances in a bid to realize monitor experiences within the very totally different set of climate circumstances in comparison with the recent Friday periods.

Ferrari’s duo of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz led the sector for almost all of the session after setting convincing lap occasions initially. With the rain turning into extra intense, there was no probability to beat the Scuderia’s driver within the center a part of the session.

Regardless of the massive quantity of water, a number of drivers together with the Williams, AlphaTauri, Alfa Romeo and Alpine duo accomplished a sequence of laps, attempting to determine the perfect strains and the crossover level between the intermediate and moist tyres.

The session was then red-flagged with ten minutes to go when Sebastian Vettel crashed out at Flip 10. The marshals had been fast to clear the monitor, offering drivers with a final four-minute monitor time in drying circumstances.

After having spent nearly all of the session within the storage, reigning champion Max Verstappen was fast on his last scorching lap and went quickest. Nevertheless, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc took over the lead simply a few seconds later solely to lose it when Nicholas Latifi put his Williams in P1 with a shocking lap of 1m 41.480s.

The Canadian’s workforce mate Alexander Albon was additionally fast within the difficult drying circumstances, setting the third quickest lap of the session.
Mercedes completed the session within the midfield with George Russell and Lewis Hamilton taking fifth and eleventh. Alpine’s Fernando Alonso ended up sixth quickest together with his workforce mate 2021 Hungarian GP winner Esteban Ocon languishing down in P13.

Vettel took ninth, showing to have an inexpensive tempo within the early a part of the session. His workforce mate Lance Stroll set the fifteenth quickest lap. McLaren would possibly hope for higher climate circumstances after their robust displaying in Friday practices as Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo solely completed down in P8 and P14 respectively.