F1: Verstappen tops treacherous final Dutch GP practice

World Driving Champion Max Verstappen was in a class of his own on a very wet Zandvoort track to top final Dutch GP practice.

–by Mark Cipolloni–

Verstappen’s lap of 1m21.631s was 0.379s up on the Mercedes of George Russell in the session hit by three red flags. The first was for Magnussen who crashed at Turn 3, Zhou beached himself in the gravel and the final one was for a spinning Lawson, who did manage to make it back to the pits under his own steam.

Verstappen was going even faster, but he locked up and aborted the lap.

The track was so slippery, Charles Leclerc spun his #16 Ferrari three times in Turn 1.

Sergio Perez was third in the 2nd Red Bull, 1-second behind his teammate Verstappen.

Fernando Alonso was 4th for Aston Martin, 1.003s behind while Lewis Hamilton rounded out the top-5 in the 2nd Mercedes, 1.092s behind.

Ahead of qualifying, Verstappen looked confident – although it wasn’t an immaculate session, with two big offs for the Dutchman. But then again, he wasn’t the only one struggling for grip, with the list of who didn’t have a moment far shorter than the list of who did.

Ferrari is one team who is in bad shape – both their drivers were struggling to slow down into Turn 1, and just seemed to lack grip on both the wet and the intermediate tires.

Alpine also couldn’t get either car into the top 10.

2023 Dutch GP Practice 3 Practice