F1 Saudi Arabian GP: Verstappen leads FP3 from Hamilton

FP3 was held on a warm afternoon, rendering it not entirely representative for Saturday night qualifying, which is set to run in cooler conditions.

Still, the fast-improving track conditions on the brand-new street circuit made the one-hour training run a valuable exercise after many drivers reported problems getting the most out of Pirelli's softest tyre compound on Friday.

Mercedes duo Hamilton and Bottas joined the track early in the session, Bottas topping the early running with a 1m30.394s on hards.

Bottas was briefly demoted by Kimi Raikkonen's Alfa Romeo, but then Hamilton took the lead with a 1m29.605s, which he followed up with an innocuous spin.

Hamilton and Bottas found more time on the hardest compound to extend their gap atop the leaderboard, Hamilton particularly impressing with a 1m28.314s, which at the time put him one second clear.

That gap was gradually closed by the likes of AlphaTauri's Pierre Gasly, McLaren's Lando Norris and Ferrari man Carlos Sainz, who all demoted Bottas to fifth.

Max Verstappen's first effort aboard the Red Bull put him outside the top five, but his second soft tyre effort was good for P2 three tenths behind title rival Hamilton.

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes W12

Photo by: Erik Junius

Against a backdrop of the red sun setting over the Dead Sea, Verstappen set a new benchmark heading into the final half of the session, his 1m28.212s on softs beating Hamilton's time by one tenth.

Verstappen found another tenth to set a 1m28.105s as all runners switched to softs for the final 15 minutes.

AlphaTauri's Yuki Tsunoda took third with 10 minutes to go but was ultimately demoted by Sergio Perez in the second Red Bull.

Tsunoda settled for up fourth ahead of teammate Gasly and Bottas following another strong showing by AlphaTauri.

Charles Leclerc took seventh after his Ferrari team managed to repair his car after his hard FP2 smash, followed by stablemate Sainz.

Esteban Ocon took ninth ahead of Norris and Alpine teammate Fernando Alonso.

Alfa Romeo duo Antonio Giovinazzi and Raikkonen settled for 12th and 13th, with the second McLaren of Daniel Ricciardo down in 14th after a low-key session.

Lance Stroll was 15th for Aston Martin ahead of Williams' George Russell, with their respective teammates Sebastian Vettel and Nicholas Latifi close behind.

Haas pairing Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin propped up the timesheets.

The session progressed without major incidents, although Mazepin narrowly avoided running into the back of a cruising Hamilton through one of the circuit's many unsighted kinks.

It was one of several close encounters as traffic continued to be a problem, foreshadowing what could be an edgy qualifying session.

Cla	Driver	Chassis	Engine	Time	Gap
1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	Honda	1'28.100
2	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	Mercedes	1'28.314	0.214
3	Sergio Perez	Red Bull	Honda	1'28.629	0.529
4	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri	Honda	1'28.641	0.541
5	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri	Honda	1'28.715	0.615
6	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	Mercedes	1'29.019	0.919
7	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	Ferrari	1'29.101	1.001
8	Carlos Sainz Jr	Ferrari	Ferrari	1'29.149	1.049
9	Esteban Ocon	Alpine	Renault	1'29.177	1.077
10	Lando Norris	McLaren	Mercedes	1'29.300	1.200
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