The final practice session of the weekend has been completed and it was Red Bull who came out on top once again.
Max Verstappen led team-mate Sergio Perez in the final minutes on track ahead of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix as Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso continues to be their closest on-track rival.
The reigning world champion continued his dominant form by setting a lap time of 1:28.485, on one of the fastest tracks this season, to finish more than 0.6s ahead of Pere – with Alonso a further second off.
READ MORE: FP2 Saudi Arabia: Verstappen remains out front while Hamilton’s struggles magnified
While many believe Red Bull will have another runaway weekend, fans can be sure the midfield battle will be tight with just half a second covering Alonso and the 12 cars behind him on Saturday afternoon.
Lance Stroll in the second Aston Martin was showing his own strength on track and finished just behind Alonso in fourth, while Lewis Hamilton ended up in fifth for Mercedes.
Charles Leclerc – who will be hit with a 10-place grid penalty on Sunday – was sixth. Ferrari has been met with a number of challenges since the season kicked off and both drivers have newly-fitted power units this weekend running well below full capacity.
McLaren’s Lando Norris improved to go seventh, one place ahead of his rookie team-mate, Oscar Pisatri.
Pierre Gasly finished ninth – and will be hoping to battle his way into Q3 later today – ahead of Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and Mercedes’ George Russell.
AlphaTauri’s Nyck de Vries didn’t even make it out on track for FP3 after a technical issue left them needing to change his power unit, while team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was one of the last drivers to set a time.
