Pierre Gasly tops a shortened FP3 as Sargeant brings out a 40 minute red flag period following a high speed crash at turn 4.
First to hit the track under the heavy rain was Nico Hulkenberg in the Haas, followed by teammate Kevin Magnussen and Kick Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas. All three drivers returned to the pits after an exploratory out lap with no times on the board five minutes into the session.
Zhou, Piastri, Sainz and Ricciardo were the next group to test the conditions, with Piastri briefly finding the gravel at turn 11. First to set a timed lap was Oscar Piastri in his updated McLaren MCL38 with a 1:24.176.
Next over the line was Fernando Alonso, over a second off leader Piastri, before teammate Lance Stroll pipped the more experienced Aston Martin driver with a 1:24.200. With just under ten minutes gone from the session, Nico Hulkenberg brought out a yellow flag as he found the barrier and damaged his front wing.
With the track filling up, the errors in difficult conditions became apparent, with both Magnussen and Alonso going off the track but both managing to avoid the barriers.
Fernando Alonso was next to top the time sheets with a 1:21.461 before the session was stopped with Logan Sargeant finding the barrier at high speed in turn 4, having touched the grass exiting turn 3. A big hit saw his FW46 burst into flames, bringing out an early red flag. The young American driver returned to the pit lane after a short visit to the medical centre thankfully injury free.
Due to damage to the barrier, the session did not resume until 12.28pm local time with only 2 minutes remaining on the clock. With very limited time remaining, all drivers except Alonso and Sargeant rushed on track with Verstappen passing Piastri and Russell on pit exit. A brief cross of the white line earned the champion a black and white flag.
With the circuit slightly drier, the rain having stopped during the red flag period, the times tumbled as those who managed to beat the chequered flag crossed the line. As the times shook out it was Pierre Gasly who claimed the top spot with a 1:20.331.
