Max Verstappen topped the timesheet in a rain-affected final practice session for the 2024 FIA Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix, as a crash for Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll brought out the red flags before the session was suspended for a second time due to the conditions.
At the start of the wet session Verstappen was first out on track to try to get some data ahead of what is expected to be a wet qualifying session. Running on Intermediate tyres, the Dutch driver managed to cross the line in 2:03.232, almost 20s slower than his best time from Friday’s dry sessions.
Verstappen completed three more laps, getting down to 2:01.565 which left him top of the timesheet, 1.4s clear of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, Alpine’s Pierre Gasly and the second McLaren of Lando Norris.
Norris has a nervous moment when he slid off track at at Malmedy and bounced through the gravel, with McLaren later opting to change the floor on his car due to the incident.
With a little over 10 minutes on the clock, the red flags then came out when Stroll crashed at Raidillon. The Aston Martin driver aquaplaned on the steep run up the hill and he spun through the run-off and hit the barriers with the left front of his car, breaking the suspension.
After a 10-minute delay, the session resumed but with the conditions now worse, all drivers remained in the pits and as the rain continued to fall race control stopped the session for a second time just ahead of the two thirds mark.
That ended meaningful running. The session was resulted in the final two minutes to allow drivers to make practice starts and a clutch of drivers headed out on extreme wets to test the conditions and try out an unlikely start from the grid on the blue banded tyres.
2024 FIA Formula 1 Belgian Prix – Free Practice 3
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda RBPT 2’01.565 4 207.414
2 Oscar Piastri McLaren/Mercedes 2’02.998 1.433 4 204.998
3 Pierre Gasly Alpine/Renault 2’03.175 1.610 5 204.703
4 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 2’03.372 1.807 4 204.377
5 Esteban Ocon Alpine/Renault 2’05.250 3.685 7 201.312
6 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 2’06.033 4.468 4 200.061
7 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 2’06.037 4.472 4 200.055
8 Valtteri Bottas Sauber/Ferrari 2’06.492 4.927 7 199.335
9 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 2’06.751 5.186 3 198.928
10 Sergio Pérez Red Bull/Honda RBPT 2’07.103 5.538 3 198.377
11 Alexander Albon Williams/Mercedes 2’07.443 5.878 3 197.848
12 Nico Hülkenberg Haas/Ferrari 2’08.040 6.475 5 196.925
13 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin/Mercedes 2’08.071 6.506 4 196.878
14 Daniel Ricciardo RB/Honda RBPT 2’08.410 6.845 5 196.358
15 Yuki Tsunoda RB/Honda RBPT 2’09.444 7.879 7 194.790
16 Zhou Guanyu Sauber/Ferrari 2’11.109 9.544 7 192.316
17 Logan Sargeant Williams/Mercedes 2’11.220 9.655 3 192.153
18 Kevin Magnussen Haas/Ferrari 2’15.163 13.598 2 186.548
19 George Russell Mercedes – 2
20 Carlos Sainz Ferrari – 2
