Saudi Arabia '25: FP3 Recap

Gabriel Bortoleto got on track for the first time this weekend after a fuel leak issue demanded a new chassis. But there was a further delay as most of the grid waited for the track to cool, and to therefore become more reflective of the night time qualifying conditions. Haas didn’t hesitate however, and sent Esteban Ocon and Ollie Bearman out right away. Adjustments seemed to immediately work for the team, as Bearman confirmed, “The front axle is way stronger than it was yesterday, that’s a good thing”. 

The VCARBs, McLarens, and Ferraris were coaxed out of their garages and joined the Haas drivers on track, the rest of the grid soon following. Jack Doohan had a positive start to the session at around 20 minutes in, only running behind the 2 McLarens and Bearman. Although, it has been presumed that Alpine are running their engines in more aggressive modes in practice than the other teams, explaining their sudden proficiency on track. The rookie had a shock coming however, as the stewards noted his stray over the painted run off area at the pitlane entry (Liam Lawson struggled with the same issue the day before). 

Isack Hadjar battled with his drinking device, telling his engineers, “I have water flying around my helmet, it’s annoying”. Oscar Piastri dealt with similar issues in FP1. With around 35 minutes to go, Verstappen (P4) and Leclerc (P3) threw themselves into the McLaren mix. Hamilton also improved and pushed into 4th place. The small, hectic garage of Yuki Tsunoda scrambled to rebuild his Red Bull car during the session. At this point, they finally managed to get him onto the track, and the newest Red Bull driver thanked his team for their efforts. 

The clock continued ticking down to the last 15 minutes of practice whilst Bortoleto was still on medium tyres. His 20th place gap truly showcased the difference in pace between him and the other 19 drivers on softs. Tsunoda made great use of his disrupted practice time and ran just behind his teammate Max Verstappen. 

Scuderia Ferrari seem to be at the scene of a lot of impeding complaints from other drivers, although they were not investigated by the FIA at all. The borderline dangerous turns and semi-blind corners could have posed an issue for letting faster cars past, but the drivers’ quick reaction times cleared any possible destruction. 

The VCARBs of Hadjar and Lawson struggled to escape the bottom 5 for most of the session, but eventually ended in 11th and 13th. In the last 7 minutes, Lando Norris managed to run faster than his teammate by 24 milliseconds, making him the fastest man on track in the weekend’s final practice session. George Russell and Max Verstappen filled in the P3 and P4 spots, but Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton was down 7 places in comparison to his teammate, and complained about the lack of grip he felt.

Photo credits: "An F1 Corner" by Richard Cawood is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0.