Charles Leclerc edged out George Russell to ensure Ferrari topped timesheet for a second successive practice session in Zandvoort; Max Verstappen was third for Red Bull at his home race; watch Qualifying at 2pm on Saturday, with build-up from 1pm all live on Sky Sports F1
Saturday 3 September 2022 13:10, UK
Charles Leclerc maintained his narrow advantage over his rivals to top final practice in Zandvoort ahead of a potentially thrilling Dutch Grand Prix qualifying.
Leclerc's leading time of 1:11.632 saw the Ferrari edge Mercedes' George Russell by less than a tenth of a second, while world championship leader Max Verstappen bounced back from a disappointing Friday to finish a tenth further back in third.
The order of the top three was then repeated by their team-mates, with Carlos Sainz ahead of Lewis Hamilton and Sergio Perez, setting up an intriguing qualifying later on Saturday, with a wide-open pole position shootout in prospect.
Verstappen began Practice Three on the back foot, having missed out on significant running time on Friday after his car broke down in the weekend's opening session.
The Dutchman, who holds a 93-point lead in the world championship with eight races remaining, was only able to finish eighth fastest in Friday's second session, leading to plenty of concern among the thousands of home fans who have flocked to Zandvoort.
It was a different and far more positive story, at least to begin with, for Verstappen on Saturday. He shot straight to the top of the timesheet early in the session, with none of his rivals able to get within half a second.
Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto said - at that point of the session - that he was "disappointed" but "not surprised" at Verstappen's advantage, as he spoke to Sky Sports F1 from the pit lane.
However, Ferrari and Mercedes hit back, perhaps joining Verstappen on a lower fuel load, as Leclerc and Russell went clear.
Verstappen attempted to respond, but remained more than a tenth back from Leclerc, suggesting the pole-sitter could come from any of the three leading teams.
Sainz and Hamilton were both unable to quite match the speed of their respective team-mates but will both believe that with some tweaks before qualifying, they will be able to play a part in the contest for pole.
Sky Sports F1's Paul Di Resta said: "You couldn't predict the grid could you? It's very good.
"I think that's the closest we've had in an FP3 where we can seriously go into qualifying and say we don't know who's going to come out on top.
"Someone could turn it around in the short time we've got to get a small advantage. I would say at the moment there are five cars in the fight."
Behind the battle for pole, Fernando Alonso was seventh for Alpine, with the French team turning around McLaren's Friday advantage over them.
Lando Norris was only 10th after having his track time limited by changes being made to his front suspension, with Aston Martin's Sebastian Vettel and Haas' Mick Schumacher also ahead of the Brit.
While the contest for the fastest time provided plenty of drama, there was little incident or interruption aside from that during the session.
Hamilton narrowly avoided a collision with Yuki Tsunoda, who was guilty of going too slowly in Turn 7, while the other AlphaTauri of Pierre Gasly had a late-session incident that saw him run into a breaking board.
