Everything that happened in Spanish Grand Prix FP3

Red Bull Formula 1 driver Max Verstappen set the pace in the Saturday morning practice ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix at Barcelona.

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Key moments

– Verstappen leads Hamilton by two tenths

– Ferrari continues to shine with P3 and P4

– Perez only 10th after muted session

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Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas established a Mercedes 1-2 after running on soft tyres in the first half of the session, but Verstappen sat just half a second back from Hamilton in third despite running the mediums.

And though he’d slipped down to ninth by the time he returned to the track on softs, Verstappen’s first flyer on the fresh red-walled rubber elevated him to the top spot, his 1m17.835s marking the first and only sub-1m18s effort of the weekend so far.

Verstappen’s quest to take the lead was aided by Hamilton failing to improve substantially on his second set of softs, with the reigning champion unable to match his previous time in the final sector. Despite this, the final sector was the only one of the three where he’d actually gone quicker than Verstappen.

The two Ferraris spent virtually the whole session at the sharp end, and ultimately split the two Mercedes, with Charles Leclerc two tenths down on Hamilton and a tenth up on Bottas, and Carlos Sainz Jr 0.13s clear of the Finn.

Lando Norris had a late trip through the gravel at the new Turn 10 but was sixth for McLaren, a tenth up on his team-mate Daniel Ricciardo in eighth.

Norris goes off 😧

A snap of oversteer sees the Brit into the gravel, but he is able to return to the track #SpanishGP 🇪🇸 #F1 pic.twitter.com/0O2XXjdD3K

— Formula 1 (@F1) May 8, 2021

Slotting in between the pair was Pierre Gasly, who produced a mediocre time with his first soft-tyre attempt late on but had enough rubber left over to move up to seventh on a subsequent try.

Alfa Romeo driver Kimi Raikkonen was an impressive ninth, although subsequently suffered a cut to the right rear tyre that forced him to the pits.

Raikkonen was ahead of Red Bull’s second driver Sergio Perez, who was 0.771s down on Verstappen and had likewise underwhelmed on his initial medium run.

Practice 3 Results