Verstappen completes practice sweep as Red Bull leave rivals a second behind · RaceFans

Max Verstappen completed a clean sweep of topping practice sessions for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in Jeddah, going over half a second faster than team mate Sergio Perez.

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The reigning world champion set the fastest time of the weekend with a 1'28.485 on the soft tyres to go quickest in the final hour of running, over six tenths ahead of Perez. Fernando Alonso was again third-fastest for Aston Martin, but almost a full second slower than Verstappen's best.

As the final session of the weekend to be take place in sunlight, it was not the most representative conditions for teams to prepare for qualifying, with track temperatures well over 40C. As such, it was a very quiet start to the opening hour with only five drivers setting times in the first quarter of an hour.

Eventually, Aston Martin sent out both Lance Stroll and Alonso on medium tyres. After steady out-laps, both drivers returned to the pits where they were switched onto hard tyres, then sent back out for a second lap before returning to the pits once more.

Nyck de Vries , the only driver in the field never to have raced around the Jeddah circuit before, was struck with the frustrating news that his AlphaTauri team had discovered a problem with his car which necessitated the team changing his power unit, meaning he would miss the entire session.

Oscar Piastri was first to break the silence, venturing out to set the first timed lap of the day with a 1'32.351. That prompted a pack of cars to take to the track, with the two Mercedes of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton moving to the top of the times. They were soon replaced by Verstappen, who became the first driver to go under the 90-second barrier in the session with a 1'29.882 on hard tyres, a quarter of a second quicker than Pierre Gasly's Alpine on the softs.

Perez then lowered the quickest time of the weekend so far with a 1'29.417 on the soft tyres to replace his Red Bull team mate at the top of the times. Hamilton attempted to improve on his personal best time but was forced to abandon a flying lap attempt after coming across Stroll's Aston Martin at the apex of turn 16.

With 15 minutes remaining, Verstappen bolted on a set of soft tyres and set by far the fastest time of the weekend with a 1'28.756 to go to the top of the times. After backing off, Verstappen inadvertently held up Lando Norris through turn eight. While Norris complained over team radio about the "dangerous" move, Verstappen pulled alongside the McLaren driver on the approach to the turn 13 hairpin to gesture his apologies. The stewards noted the near-miss but deemed it not worthy of investigation.

Verstappen's second effort on the soft tyres was even quicker than his first, lowering to a 1'28.660 to go almost half a second quicker than his team mate. Then he shaved another tenth-and-a-half on his seventh lap on his soft tyres to go even further ahead of Perez. That would be the fastest time of the session, with the chequered flag signalling the end of the session, confirming Verstappen had completed a clean sweep of setting the fastest time across the three practice sessions.

Perez remained second, over six tenths slower than Verstappen's best time. Alonso was the quickest of the Aston Martins in third, less than three-hundredths of a second ahead of team mate Stroll but nearly a full second behind Verstappen. Hamilton was fifth for Mercedes, ahead of Charles Leclerc and the two McLarens of Norris and Piastri. Gasly and Carlos Sainz Jnr were the final drivers in the top ten.

2023 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix third practice result

Position	Number	Driver	Team	Model	Time	Gap	Laps
1	1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	RB19	1'28.485		20
2	11	Sergio Perez	Red Bull	RB19	1'29.098	0.613	15
3	14	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin-Mercedes	AMR23	1'29.483	0.998	21
4	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin-Mercedes	AMR23	1'29.509	1.024	21
5	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	W14	1'29.568	1.083	18
6	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	SF-23	1'29.588	1.103	16
7	4	Lando Norris	McLaren-Mercedes	MCL60	1'29.690	1.205	18
8	81	Oscar Piastri	McLaren-Mercedes	MCL60	1'29.698	1.213	23
9	10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine-Renault	A523	1'29.701	1.216	19
10	55	Carlos Sainz Jnr	Ferrari	SF-23	1'29.761	1.276	16
11	63	George Russell	Mercedes	W14	1'29.811	1.326	19
12	24	Zhou Guanyu	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	C43	1'29.917	1.432	21
13	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Haas-Ferrari	VF-23	1'29.933	1.448	19
14	31	Esteban Ocon	Alpine-Renault	A523	1'29.953	1.468	19
15	23	Alexander Albon	Williams-Mercedes	FW45	1'29.983	1.498	18
16	2	Logan Sargeant	Williams-Mercedes	FW45	1'30.035	1.550	18
17	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas-Ferrari	VF-23	1'30.131	1.646	15
18	77	Valtteri Bottas	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	C43	1'30.317	1.832	20
19	22	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri-Red Bull	AT04	1'30.797	2.312	20
20	21	Nyck de Vries	AlphaTauri-Red Bull	AT04	No time

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2023 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix

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