Max Verstappen completed a clean sweep of Spanish grand prix practice after a rain-affected final practice session in Barcelona.
Dark clouds rolled over the circuit and lightning was striking in the distance as FP3 went green, and drivers were queued at the end of the pit lane on slick tires in a bid to validate overnight set-up changes before the forecast rain arrived.
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Verstappen quickly rocketed to the top of the time sheet with a lap of 1m 13.664, and teammate Sergio Perez followed 0.25s further back, but the session was halted after just eight minutes when Logan Sargeant crashed his Williams at the final corner.
The American rookie tried to carry too much speed into the turn when the rear of his car snapped from under him, sending him sliding across the gravel and sideways into the barrier.
The crash caused a 10-minute red flag to collect the car, during which time heavy drops of rain began to pelt the track. It wasn’t enough to soak the circuit, but it put it awkwardly between slick and intermediate tires, which deterred drivers from rejoining the session.
Lando Norris was the only driver in the 15 minutes after the session resumed to sample conditions on intermediates, but he returned to pit lane at the end of the lap.
It wasn’t until Ferrari teammates Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc followed a few minutes later that the rest of the field was coaxed out of their garages for the final 15 minutes, and in the last five minutes most drivers switched back to slicks.
Some were reluctant, however. Verstappen radioed that he didn’t “really feel comfortable pushing in these conditions”, describing it as “a waste” given the conditions. He set only one token lap on softs to ensure he could execute a practice start on the grid at the end of the session.
The Dutchman had a point, with no driver able to improve their times on the slippery track. It meant the order was from the start of the session when the checkered flag flew.
Lewis Hamilton was third quickest behind the Red Bull drivers and 0.408s slower than the session-topping Verstappen, with Carlos Sainz next just over half a second adrift.
Fernando Alonso finished fifth ahead of George Russell and Charles Leclerc to complete the frontrunning pack.
Valtteri Bottas beat Yuki Tsunoda to eighth, while Norris finished 10th.
Zhou Guanyu was 11th – he ended the hour frustrated to be blocked by a Haas car in the final minute – ahead of Nyck de Vries.
Lance Stroll was the only driver other than Sargeant to run off track, understeering into the stones at Turn 5, after which he was recalled to his garage to check for damage to the floor.
Nico Hulkenberg was 14th ahead of Piastri and Esteban Ocon, who was one of only two drivers not to have a chance to set their fastest time on softs, the other being Alpine teammate Pierre Gasly down in 18th.
Kevin Magnussen was between them in 17th, while Williams teammates Alex Albon and Sargeant finished at the back of the pack in 19th and 20th.
