Pierre Gasly admits some frustration had built up during his first season with Alpine, but was released with his first podium for the team at the Dutch Grand Prix. Alpine has shown strong speed at times this year but missed opportunities for some …
Pierre Gasly admits some frustration had built up during his first season with Alpine, but was released with his first podium for the team at the Dutch Grand Prix.
Alpine has shown strong speed at times this year but missed opportunities for some big results on Gasly’s side of the garage, leaving him with 22 points and a best finish of seventh in a grand prix heading into the race at Zandvoort. Third in the Sprint in Belgium hinted at the potential of the partnership and just one race after a change of team management Gasly scored a strong podium in wet conditions, something he says is partly down to the team’s resilience.
“It was extremely tricky today,” Gasly said. “All the conditions were pretty much thrown at us from the start. We ended up on slicks in the dry, in damp conditions, then feeding the inters on the wet, but then on a drying track. It was all about adapting yourself to the conditions and really playing with the limits.
“After the summer break I was really excited to get back in the car and today was probably the most fun I’ve had all season. Very exciting to be fighting for these positions. And yeah, they were important goals to make but the whole team executed a very strong race.
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“I’m pleased because we haven’t been very fortunate since the start of the year, kind of involved in some unfortunate situations on many occasions…which kind of built some frustration, but you’ve got to keep your head down and always trying to improve what you can on yourself, and today it paid off. Big congrats to the guys and a great way to restart the second part of the year.”
One potential point of controversy occurred when Max Verstappen overtook Gasly early on in the race in wet conditions, diving to the inside of Turn 3 but running the Frenchman out of road, something Gasly — who finished fourth on the road but gained a place due to a time penalty for Sergio Perez — felt was close to the limit but an understandable move.
“I think I’ve I finished more than 5s behind Max, so it doesn’t really matter to me,” Gasly quipped. “Depends how much Fernando [Alonso] pays me. Then we can discuss how much you’re willing to give!
“It was a wheel-to-wheel battle and Max knew that if you’ll push me slightly wider on the paint in the wet, if I put a wheel on there, then I’ll just understeer wide. It was on the limit. If I’ll be in his position, and you’ve got to pass a car, you’ll play with the limit and that’s why you will try. I’m not too fussy about it. Yeah, it’s just racing. And close racing.”
Fernando Alonso says he had the backing of Aston Martin to take a “risky” approach on the late restart to try and beat Max Verstappen in the Dutch Grand Prix. Verstappen had been leading comfortably from teammate Sergio Perez before a late downpour …
Fernando Alonso says he had the backing of Aston Martin to take a “risky” approach on the late restart to try and beat Max Verstappen in the Dutch Grand Prix.
Verstappen had been leading comfortably from teammate Sergio Perez before a late downpour saw the Mexican go off at Turn 1 and drop to third behind Alonso, with the race red-flagged shortly after. With a six-lap sprint to the finish in wet conditions, Alonso gained on Verstappen out of the final corner in the wet and he says he had discussed trying to win the race rather than settle for a strong second with his team beforehand.
“I was thinking about trying, so I was not conservative, let’s say,” Alonso said. “I thought about what to do a lot in the red flag period, so I thought what the possibilities would be. Obviously the move into Turn 3 was something that was in my head, also into Turn 1.
“I discussed it with the team as well [about my feelings] — that I wanted to try today — but obviously I didn’t want to compromise any big points for the team because second was very important as well. They were happy with me trying. I think they have trust in me as well [about] whatever I decided.
“On the restart I tried launching the lap [in Turn 14], trying to be flat in the banking with the cold tires — which is a little bit risky — and tried to be side-by-side at least into Turn 1, but I was not that close. After that I tried some different lines, inside, outside, the opposite of Max for the first lap in case one of the lines was very grippy — or much grippier than his — and it was close but not enough.”
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Alonso had made early progress in the wet on slick tires to put himself in the frame for victory, and he attributed his second place to the confidence he was getting from his Aston Martin.
“Today the car was working really well and I felt confident driving,” he said. “I had the trust in the car — because obviously in these conditions you need that level of trust in how much you push. The car was fast in the dry, fast on inters and probably our most competitive part was at the beginning of the race when it was just a few drops of rain but we were still on the slick tire.
“We quickly switched to the inters so we could not capitalize on that, but we still made some moves — in Turn 3 at the start on Alex and George, and also on Lando on lap two — so I was quite happy with the race. It was one of those Sundays where you feel connected with the car, you feel in sync with the car and, everything you do, the car is just answering perfectly well.”
The Spaniard thinks it would be premature to suggest Aston Martin is back to being the clear second-fastest team despite upgrades brought to the past two races, though.
“I think [it’s] too early to say. I think the car is better than the previous events, that’s for sure. The car felt easier to drive, we were more competitive, we’ve been in the top five in every session this weekend. It was not only [in] the race where we were fast. We felt competitive since Friday. But Monza next week is a completely different layout, minimum downforce…and drag, and let’s see if we can still be competitive.”
Max Verstappen admits his record-equalling ninth victory in a row was stressful as he had to deal with challenging weather conditions to win the Dutch Grand Prix. Rain just as the race started meant the field was faced with a wet track in the final …
Max Verstappen admits his record-equalling ninth victory in a row was stressful as he had to deal with challenging weather conditions to win the Dutch Grand Prix.
Rain just as the race started meant the field was faced with a wet track in the final sector on the opening lap, but Verstappen stayed out on slick tires for an extra lap before pitting and was over 14s behind teammate Sergio Perez — who stopped immediately — by the time he’d taken on intermediates. Then a late downpour saw a red flag and Verstappen face pressure from Fernando Alonso, but he held on and continued his run of success at his home race.
“I think the first laps on the slicks were quite stressful. You don’t want to immediately go off the track, and also knowing how much grip there is still out there on the tires with the amount of water coming down, it was not easy,” Verstappen said.
“The final restart — seven laps to go, six laps to go, whatever — I knew that my first lap, the whole weekend already, has not been the best with warm-up. I knew that I had to survive that first lap. Fernando was pushing very hard behind; I could see him closely in my mirrors. Once I had the temperature in my tires, it was all well-balanced again.”
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Although he insists his focus is not on records, Verstappen says the consistency of Red Bull has to be acknowledged, with the team unbeaten so far this year.
“It was probably one of the more difficult races to win again, but nine in a row is something I never even thought about. Very happy with that, but I’m in general very happy to win here in front of my home crowd.
“Even if you have the best car — I think there have been more dominant cars in the past than what we have at the moment [and] they haven’t been able…to win nine in a row — the consecutive wins we have as a team, it is hard. Especially like today, it’s easy to make a wrong call or even drop it…in the gravel or whatever. It’s never that straightforward unfortunately.”
Verstappen rates this win as his toughest Zandvoort victory, having won every time he has raced on home soil.
“I knew I had good pace on the intermediates, and I knew when I had to push,” he said. “The whole weekend already, we were quick. It was more about just keeping them alive for whenever you need them, and if there was more rain coming. In the beginning, I think it was pretty good.
“To compare the wins, I think all of them have been different. This one definitely was the hardest one to make all the right calls to the end.”
Max Verstappen has won his home Dutch Grand Prix on a chaotic mixed-weather afternoon for a record-equaling ninth consecutive race victory. Verstappen started on pole position and held the lead off the line, but his win was far from assured by the …
Max Verstappen has won his home Dutch Grand Prix on a chaotic mixed-weather afternoon for a record-equaling ninth consecutive race victory.
Verstappen started on pole position and held the lead off the line, but his win was far from assured by the time he got to the final corner, where the heavens had opened to dump heavy rain onto the circuit.
Though rain was on the radar, it hadn’t been forecast to arrive for another half-hour, catching teams and drivers by surprise. Barely a handful of drivers responded by pitting for intermediate tires immediately. Sergio Perez, having started seventh, was the first among those to enter pit lane.
Those who stayed out had a mind to tough out the conditions, but the rain only intensified on the second tour. Verstappen was convinced to come in ahead of Fernando Alonso and Carlos Sainz for intermediates. But the early stoppers had already dealt significant damage to those who followed on later laps. Sergio Perez powered himself into the lead on lap three, easily slicing past the drivers who were still crawling around the track in the downpour.
Verstappen had briefly dropped to as low as 11th before recovering places to other drivers stopping. With his inters up to temperature, he barged past both Pierre Gasly and Zhou Guanyu with some muscular moves to slot into second behind his teammate. The gap stood at more than 11 seconds, but he was lapping at a ferocious pace, reducing the margin by around four seconds per lap.
By lap 10 the circuit was dry enough for the slick tires to be faster than intermediates, and Red Bull Racing was keen to ensure Verstappen didn’t miss the opportunity to switch a second time.
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Despite not yet having regained the lead, the home favorite was given the benefit of the first pit stop on lap 11, giving him an easy undercut past Perez when the Mexican pitted on the following lap. He stretched his lead to more than 10s by lap 60 when the rain returned to shuffle the order again.
The entire field pitted between laps 60 and 61 for intermediates with the exception of Esteban Ocon, who switched to the full wet tire in anticipation of a deluge. He got more than he bargained for when on lap 63 the circuit was drenched in a cloudburst that spat several drivers off track at the first turn, including Perez, who dropped to third behind Alonso. The Mexican managed to rejoin, but when Zhou slammed into the barriers at the speed, race control was forced to red-flag the race.
The suspension lasted for almost 50 minutes before the race resumed with a rolling restart. Verstappen controlled the pack ahead of a probing Alonso with five racing laps left on the clock, and the home hero eked home to an ultimately comfortable 3.7s victory.
“Incredible,” he said. “Today they didn’t make it easy for us with the weather to make all the right calls. I’m going to enjoy this weekend.”
Alex Albon leads Fernando Alonso at the start. Zak Mauger/Motorsport Images
Alonso had been running third after a pair of incisive passes on Alex Albon and George Russell on the first lap and inherited second place from Perez before the red flag. The Spaniard held off the faster Red Bull Racing car through to the flag to return to the podium with a runner-up finish and the bonus point for fastest lap.
“It was a very intense race,” he said. “Obviously at the beginning with he wet conditions we were very, very fast.
“In these conditions you need a car that you can trust, and I did trust the car a lot today, so I did enjoy it.”
Pierre Gasly made big gains from 12th on the grid by perfectly timing his first two stops in the initial showers, rising eight places by the dry portion of the race to run fourth. But a five-second penalty for Perez after the restart for speeding in the pit lane opened the door to an unlikely podium finish, which the Frenchman duly seized.
“What a race,” he said of the fourth podium of his career. “I’m super pleased for all the guys to get P3.
“Obviously I tried to push as hard as a I could to try to stay within five seconds. Greatly executed by all the guys.”
The penalized Perez finished fourth, spared a further drop only by Carlos Sainz needing to defend against Lewis Hamilton for the final five laps, dropping the pair backwards form the podium and into the clutches of Lando Norris.
Norris had been among the worst affected by the first burst of rain at the start of the race, having attempted to stay out on slicks before relenting for an inters switch too late to be effective. He’d been running as low as 13th once the field switched back to slicks, but the safety car to clean up after the crashed-out Logan Sargeant on lap 16 closed the field in his favor, and strong pace on softs clawed him back into the points.
Alex Albon bypassed the pit-stop question early in the race by staying out through the rain on slicks, a decision that eventually swung back towards him and facilitated four points for eighth.
Oscar Piastri finished ninth ahead of Esteban Ocon in 10th.
Liam Lawson admits he is hoping he will have more chances to race in Formula 1 after qualifying for the Dutch Grand Prix less than 24 hours after getting called up to replace Daniel Ricciardo. Ricciardo broke a bone in his hand in a crash during …
Liam Lawson admits he is hoping he will have more chances to race in Formula 1 after qualifying for the Dutch Grand Prix less than 24 hours after getting called up to replace Daniel Ricciardo.
Ricciardo broke a bone in his hand in a crash during FP2, with Lawson confirmed as his replacement once an x-ray had confirmed the injury on Friday evening. Faced with just a single practice session in heavy rain, Lawson qualified 20th on Saturday — 1.4s adrift of a Q2 spot — and he admits it made for a tough introduction.
“Hectic, massively hectic!” he told SpeedCity Broadcasting. “Obviously it’s not something you want and I feel for Daniel — I wish him a speedy recovery and I hope everything is fine — but for myself an opportunity like this comes once maybe in your life, so you have to take it in both hands. It’s been a challenging day but I’m excited for tomorrow. I know it’s going to be pretty tough but I’m excited.
“I didn’t sleep much — a lot to think about, obviously. We had a good idea that today was going to be wet — at least FP3 — but just a lot of emotions, a lot of things to go through. Knowing that I’d have one session to try and learn as much as I could, it’s been tough. I’m just excited to race, and I hope it’s not the only opportunity I get.”
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The weather forecast for Sunday remains mixed but there’s a chance the grand prix will be dry — which would mark Lawson’s first dry-weather laps in the 2023 AlphaTauri, and he acknowledges that will likely leave him unable to match the pace of others.
“It’s tough because you want to have a good race and I’ve now driven the car for a day, but it probably will be dry — I haven’t driven in the dry, I haven’t driven on these (tire) compounds. It’s not restarting, but it’s like 50% there.
“So the first part of the race is going to be extremely tough, I just hope that I can get a feel for it quickly. I know it’s going to be very tough to try and be somewhat competitive, but to just have a clean race I think is the target.”
Alex Albon believes his best qualifying performance for Williams was down to both his confidence in the car and the direction of the wind at the Dutch Grand Prix. Williams has looked quick all weekend and got both cars into Q3, with Albon fastest in …
Alex Albon believes his best qualifying performance for Williams was down to both his confidence in the car and the direction of the wind at the Dutch Grand Prix.
Williams has looked quick all weekend and got both cars into Q3, with Albon fastest in Q1 and going on to qualify in fourth place, despite stating on Thursday that Zandvoort is in the bottom fifth of tracks on the calendar for the team. When tasked with how to explain Williams’ stunning pace, Albon stated: “I don’t!
“We’ve been good in FP1, good in FP2, good in FP3. There was an element that we thought we were going to start slipping back… The car felt good the first lap we drove in FP1, and normally when that happens, the others start to really chip away at it, get their car in their window. I just felt like, ‘Oh, maybe we’ve hit our sweet spot early.’
“We didn’t really play too much with the car since FP1, and it made me feel confident. Then when you add confidence with a track like this, which is so narrow, so uncompromising, and at the same time, mixed conditions — wet, dry, that kind of thing — you really just need to feel at one with the car, and I have done this weekend.
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“I think when you have these kind of conditions, it’s not always about peak downforce, it’s about having a car that’s drivable and on the limit. Our car has been all weekend. That’s my explanation. It’s also no secret that we’re not normally good at high downforce circuits. We also think about Spa or Monza or something like that. For me, that’s the unanswered bit.”
Albon says the direction of the wind also played a big part in the competitive level Williams enjoyed, as it hasn’t emphasized a weakness.
“The one explanation I do have — there’s been a really, really nice headwind in a lot of these corners. Turn 9, Turn 11 have always been terrible corners for us, corners where we’ve been losing 0.2s… With a headwind, we’re almost…a little bit slower, but really not much — half a tenth maybe. I think that’s helped us a lot more than normal. We actually drove this wind on the simulator; we do play around with it. We knew this wind was good for our car, [and] we got it, which is nice.”
Williams also targeted a more balanced downforce level, having been trying to maximize its straight-line speed at other venues, but Albon says any talk of a podium challenge from the second row is premature.
“I think our race pace was respectable in FP2, but it definitely wasn’t top tier. All the top tier teams are around us. There’s no driver that can hold them up. They’re all directly behind me, so it’s going to be a tough race.”
Lando Norris says Max Verstappen is not unbeatable despite the championship leader taking pole position by over half a second in qualifying for the Dutch Grand Prix. Verstappen has been on pole and won every race at Zandvoort since it returned to …
Lando Norris says Max Verstappen is not unbeatable despite the championship leader taking pole position by over half a second in qualifying for the Dutch Grand Prix.
Verstappen has been on pole and won every race at Zandvoort since it returned to the calendar so far, and is currently on a run of eight straight race victories. Norris looked a threat for pole but had to settle for a distant second place, but says Verstappen can be beaten in qualifying given how small the margins are.
“I’ll say no (he’s not unbeatable), because there are times when we have been very close,” Norris said. “There have been plenty of times where it has been super close, whether Max has made a mistake or not. But it’s two differences — whether it’s qualifying or the race. I think in the race we have got no chance unless he gets unlucky and something happens. He’s a very good driver in a very good car and he is just doing the job that he needs to do.
“Full respect to that. But I wouldn’t say he is unbeatable, because on a day like today he can make a mistake — sadly he doesn’t, but it can happen. It happens to everyone and it can still happen to him. There’s a time and a place and we are all still waiting for it to happen — just not today.”
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Norris says his final lap in Q3 was actually a poor one, despite his position on the front row.
“Qualifying is always stressful, no matter what the conditions, but definitely now it’s definitely trickier. The first half of the lap was mega, but the second half of the lap was probably one of the worst second halves that I’ve done. It peaked early on. It’s tough, but I really enjoyed these conditions. I’ve always enjoyed the conditions, it’s when we do well. I’m taking the P2 still.
“Tires were good until the end. The driver peaked very early. Got a bit of work to do, just not the most comfortable but good enough, so I’ll take it.”
Verstappen, meanwhile, is going for a record-equaling ninth straight victory on Sunday, and says he wasn’t expecting to be able to match Sebastian Vettel’s benchmark.
“I think after five wins in a row, Seb texted me and said, ‘Well done with what you are doing, keep it up and you are going to do it,’” Verstappen said. “But I was like, nine wins in a row is something very impressive and I never thought I would be able to already on eight. So if it’s possible tomorrow, of course I go for it. But it’s not something I have in the back of my head constantly, I’m not in the sport to try and break records. I’m here to win in the moment.”
Logan Sargeant says he “shattered” what has been a promising Dutch Grand Prix weekend for him so far with “a millimeter mistake” during qualifying. The American made it through to Q3 for the first time in his career with the final lap of Q2, with …
Logan Sargeant says he “shattered” what has been a promising Dutch Grand Prix weekend for him so far with “a millimeter mistake” during qualifying.
The American made it through to Q3 for the first time in his career with the final lap of Q2, with Williams looking particularly strong at Zandvoort despite low expectations heading into the event. However, after he and teammate Alex Albon had completed their first timed laps of Q3 on slick tires on a drying track, Sargeant crashed heavily at Turn 2 after getting slightly off-line and says it’s undone a lot of his good work so far.
“It’s just tough,” Sargeant said. “Fine margins in those conditions. The last thing I ever want to do is leave the team with a boat load of damage. I’m doing my best to deliver good results. I think there’s been so many positives this weekend. Yesterday in the dry, I feel like I was really pretty much right there. I think the long-run pace was really good. We’ve had the car in a great window.
“Even Q1, Q2, I missed a little bit of pace today in the wet, but I think the biggest positive for me is delivering laps when I needed to. That’s something I’ve lacked this year, and to be able to do that has been really nice today. But yeah, it’s all just shattered by a millimeter mistake.”
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Sargeant admits he doesn’t know why Williams is as competitive as it is, but he’s focusing on converting what he hopes will be his first top-10 start into his first points in Formula 1.
“I don’t think we’re completely sure. We didn’t expect this (track) to be a great one for us,” he admitted. “It’s important to understand why. That’s something we’ll dig into. Just mixed emotions — definitely bittersweet.
“I think from my point of view, I need to look back at it, see what I did wrong first of all, see if there was just a tiny mistake that was unavoidable or if it was a mindset thing; I haven’t quite understood it yet, but I need to figure that out. And then not dwell on it, because our long-run pace was great yesterday. Hopefully get the car rebuilt as close as we can, and try to utilize that with the good long-run pace that we have and try to score some points. That’s the goal.
“I put myself in the position to be in the top 10; I also put the team in a position with a damaged car. There’s ups and downs. You’ve got to take them as they come, roll with the punches. I’ll do whatever I can tonight to help and then hopefully deliver a perfect race tomorrow to make up for it.”
Should Sargeant be able to take up his place in the top 10, it will make him the first American to have started from there for 30 years, following Michael Andretti’s ninth place at the 1993 Italian Grand Prix.
Max Verstappen will start his home grand prix from pole position for the third year in a row after topping a qualifying session that featured six different teams in the top six. Verstappen’s final flying lap, a 1m11.567, was enough to deny Lando …
Max Verstappen will start his home grand prix from pole position for the third year in a row after topping a qualifying session that featured six different teams in the top six.
Verstappen’s final flying lap, a 1m11.567, was enough to deny Lando Norris pole by 0.537s in a session that started in wet conditions, but had dried by the time the checkered flag fell in Q3.
“I’m happy still,” said Norris despite missing out on pole. “P2 was a good result, I guess, in these kinds of conditions. Every now and then you hope Max makes a mistake and he doesn’t, so it’s frustrating in a little way but I’m happy. The team did a great job.”
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It was those changeable conditions that forced two delays in Q3, the first being a 20-minute stoppage to repair the Turn 2 barriers, damaged after an off for Logan Sargeant. The second came after Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc understeered at Turn 9, then hit the wall after being unable to regain control on the wet grass.
“It was a very tricky qualifying, starting of course with the intermediates, but also the track surface is quite slippery with the new tarmac,” said Verstappen. “It was all about putting your laps in and staying out of trouble. I think we managed that quite well but then also the end when we could go onto the slick tires again there was just one dry line in some places and we had to risk it a bit but that last lap was very enjoyable.”
Verstappen admitted that the unknown of the conditions also caught his team out at the start of Q3, when he was one of four drivers to emerge on intermediate tires, although all quickly switched to the dry, soft compound after a sighting lap.
“We’ve been to some other places already where we’ve had wet races, and I think this was the first time that we came here with these kind of conditions and I think we maybe underestimated — with the wind as well and then the sun coming out — how quickly it dried,” he said. “It’s, again, all about experience and lessons you take forward but at the end of the day it didn’t matter we still did the right thing.”
George Russell was third for Mercedes, bettering Alex Albon who was arguably the star of qualifying after topping Q1 and going third fastest in Q2 for Williams.
“Really great session, happy to be here in P3,” said Russell. “Quali was one of my strengths at the start of the year and it’s just been going a little bit wrong recently. So it was good to have that break, came in with a fresh set of ideas, good reset, and we’re a great place tomorrow to fight for a podium.
Fifth went to Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso, ahead of the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz, with Sergio Perez seventh. After it looked like McLaren could have been on course for a front-row lockout, Oscar Piastri could only manage eighth, his final flying lap coming too early to make the most of optimum track conditions.
The crashed Leclerc and Sargeant completed the top 10, Sargeant making his first Q3 appearance of his career, and the first top-10 qualifying performance for an American driver since Michael Andretti at the 1993 Italian Grand Prix.
Sergeant made it through after a late Q2 lap which denied Stroll, with Gasly also failing to make it through in 11th.
The biggest casualty from Q2 was Lewis Hamilton, who did his final push lap too early, meaning his tires were overheated by the time track conditions were at their peak for the session. It marked just the second time this season — the other being Miami — that Hamilton had failed to make it out of Q2. Behind him was Yuji Tsunoda and Nico Hulkenberg.
Failing to make it out of Q1 was debutant Liam Lawson, Valtteri Bottas, and Guanyu Zhou, both Alfa Romeo drivers being split by Kevin Magnussen and Esteban Ocon. The quintet were all caught out by the changing conditions, the rain arriving late in the session as they embarked on their final flying laps.
Max Verstappen led George Russell in final practice for the Dutch Grand Prix as multiple red flags interrupted the wet session. Heavy rain throughout the morning ensured a soaked track for FP3 and there were further showers as the session took …
Max Verstappen led George Russell in final practice for the Dutch Grand Prix as multiple red flags interrupted the wet session.
Heavy rain throughout the morning ensured a soaked track for FP3 and there were further showers as the session took place, but Verstappen escaped a worrying moment early on to set the pace at his home grand prix, with Russell 0.379s adrift in second place.
The pair were in a class of their own in terms of lap times as conditions improved at the end of the session, with Sergio Perez in third a full second off his teammate. Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton and Alex Albon rounded out the top six but never looked like threatening Verstappen’s time, although the McLaren pair of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris – seventh and tenth respectively – had spells at the top for much of the hour.
The conditions were bad news for Liam Lawson as he took part in his only practice session ahead of qualifying after replacing the injured Daniel Ricciardo at AlphaTauri, with the New Zealander completing 26 laps but having one spin as he ended up 18th fastest.
Kevin Magnussen brought out the first red flag when he went off at Turn 3 early on, spinning on the exit in such tricky conditions. The incident appeared to damage the left rear of the Haas, moments after Verstappen had been off at the same point but just kept his car out of the wall.
When the session resumed, short but heavy showers kept adding to the difficulty for the drivers, and one such downpour triggered a spin at the penultimate corner for Zhou Guanyu who ended up beached in the gravel.
There was a third red flag to follow as well, when Lawson swapped ends at the same point but slid along the track to the banking of the final corner and was able to spin the car back round and rejoin, with that interruption seeming a little premature from race control as four further minutes of running were lost.
Lawson had been set to improve his best time on intermediate tires before the off, and ended up 4.7s off the pace as a result. It was the only real blot on Lawson’s copybook despite the weather, as he looked to gain as much experience as possible on both the full wet and intermediate tire, although it will mean his first dry laps for AlphaTauri could come in qualifying.
Aside from those incidents, Turn 1 was proving particularly challenging, with both Ferrari drivers and Fernando Alonso having excursions at the first corner – with multiple offs in Charles Leclerc’s case.
Esteban Ocon followed in more dramatic fashion, locking up and sliding head-on into the barrier but seeming to hit the Tecpro square enough to be able to continue without significant damage.
