Red Bull’s Max Verstappen topped the timesheets in Saturday’s third and final practice session, which was heavily impacted by persistent rain and a crash involving Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll that triggered red flags.
After a mostly dry first day at Spa-Francorchamps, overnight and morning showers left the track drenched when FP3 began at 12:30 local time. Drivers started the session on intermediate and wet tyres due to the damp conditions.
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With significant rain predicted within the first 5 to 10 minutes of the session, according to Daniel Ricciardo’s race engineer, many drivers took to the track early to complete laps, resulting in times ranging from 2 minutes to 2 minutes 30 seconds.
As expected, heavy rain soon followed, creating puddles across the circuit. TV replays showed the difficulty of the conditions as Lando Norris and Yuki Tsunoda both ran wide, taking trips through the gravel at the Les Combes section.
Shortly after, a red flag halted the session when Stroll lost control of his Aston Martin at Eau Rouge, crashing into the inside wall and sustaining significant damage, which ended his session prematurely.
Once Stroll’s car was cleared and he was taken to the Medical Centre for precautionary checks, the session resumed with about 40 minutes remaining. Verstappen’s early lap time of 2 minutes 1.565 seconds remained unbeaten.
Despite the green light, drivers were hesitant to return to the increasingly wet track, preferring to stay in the pit lane. The session was red-flagged again with 25 minutes to go due to deteriorating track conditions.
The action resumed with only a few minutes left, allowing for some practice starts in the slippery conditions. Verstappen retained the top spot with a time nearly 20 seconds slower than Friday’s fastest lap in dry conditions.
Oscar Piastri finished 1.4 seconds behind in P2, followed by the Alpines of Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon sandwiching the other McLaren of Norris. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc completed the top six, ahead of the sidelined Stroll.
Valtteri Bottas placed eighth in his Kick Sauber, ahead of Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes and Sergio Perez’s Red Bull. Alex Albon (Williams), Nico Hulkenberg (Haas), and Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) finished P11-P13, respectively.
RB duo Ricciardo and Tsunoda were 14th and 15th, while Sauber’s Zhou Guanyu and Williams’s Logan Sargeant were the last to post lap times, leaving Mercedes’s George Russell, Haas’s Kevin Magnussen, and Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz at the back.
Belgian GP FP3 Results
2024 Belgian Grand Prix FP3, 27 July 2024
| Pos | No | Driver | Car | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT | 2:01.565 | 4 | |
| 2 | 81 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren Mercedes | 2:02.998 | +1.433s | 4 |
| 3 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine Renault | 2:03.175 | +1.610s | 5 |
| 4 | 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren Mercedes | 2:03.372 | +1.807s | 4 |
| 5 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine Renault | 2:05.250 | +3.685s | 7 |
| 6 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 2:06.033 | +4.468s | 4 |
| 7 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin Aramco Mercedes | 2:06.037 | +4.472s | 4 |
| 8 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Kick Sauber Ferrari | 2:06.492 | +4.927s | 7 |
| 9 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 2:06.751 | +5.186s | 3 |
| 10 | 11 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT | 2:07.103 | +5.538s | 3 |
| 11 | 23 | Alexander Albon | Williams Mercedes | 2:07.443 | +5.878s | 3 |
| 12 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | Haas Ferrari | 2:08.040 | +6.475s | 5 |
| 13 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin Aramco Mercedes | 2:08.071 | +6.506s | 4 |
| 14 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | RB Honda RBPT | 2:08.410 | +6.845s | 5 |
| 15 | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | RB Honda RBPT | 2:09.444 | +7.879s | 7 |
| 16 | 24 | Zhou Guanyu | Kick Sauber Ferrari | 2:11.109 | +9.544s | 7 |
| 17 | 2 | Logan Sargeant | Williams Mercedes | 2:11.220 | +9.655s | 3 |
| 18 | 63 | George Russell | Mercedes | 2 | ||
| 19 | 55 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | 2 | ||
| 20 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas Ferrari | 2 |
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