Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix FP3: Advantage Mercedes as George Russell leads
F1 NewsSaturday, 13 June 2026 at 13:30
George Russell topped the final practice session for the 2026 Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix ahead of McLaren's Oscar Piastri and Ferrari's Charles Leclerc.
While Mercedes and McLaren ended Friday neck and neck, the former seemed to edge ahead at the end of FP3.
Russell posted a fastest lap, a 1:15.679, which was 0.214s clear of Piastri in second as Leclerc closed the gap in his Ferrari down to 0.243s and was third fastest.
Reigning Formula 1 Champion, Lando Norris, was just 0.003s behind Leclerc in fourth but then, after a gap of over four tenths, came Lewis Hamilton in the second Ferrari, fifth fastest.
Red Bull could not seem to solve their issues as Max Verstappen was only sixth fastest, 0.755s off the pace with Kimi Antonelli in seventh.
Seventh doesn't reflect Antonelli's actual pace as he couldn't put in a qualifying lap towards the end of FP3 due to traffic and didn't have the tyres to go again.
However, it seems the Italian is playing catchup with his teammate this weekend, maybe missing FP1 affecting his preparation.
Isack Hadjar was over one second off the pace in eighth while Nico Hulkenberg was ninth as Arvid Lindblad was tenth.
Buildup towards FP3
McLaren ended Friday on top in Barcelona, but there nothing to choose between their MCL40 and Mercedes' W17 while Ferrari were busy getting their new package working as Red Bull Racing struggled for balance.
McLaren may have been fastest but reliability remains a worry as the team have reportedly broken curfew and done some precautionary work on Friday night and said in a statement that they have replaced "permissible key components to help improve the robustness of the installation and integration of the power unit on both cars".
Leclerc, on the other hand, has shifted from Brembo brakes to Carbon Industries and seems to be happy with them, enough to keep them on for the rest of the weekend.
Friday also showed that tyre degradation was an issue around the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya which was hitting the front and rear left tyres badly as high track temperature made life for the Pirelli rubber even harder.
Pirelli are predicting a two stop race which puts the emphasis on the long runs with the data showing that Ferrari are currently having an advantage in that regard.
That also means that qualifying will be tricky with drivers not having the luxury of messing out a lap and going again as the tyres won't have the grip. So the drivers will need to nail their hot lap from the first time of asking.
With seven rookies taking part in FP1, the drivers they replaced will have a lot of catch up to do after missing one hour of running so FP3 will be the last chance for the likes of Antonelli, Hamilton, and Norris to get up to speed.
FP3 Session highlights
The session started in clear conditions with conditions remaining quite hot as track temperature was 47 degrees Celsius while air temperature was 32 degrees.
Valtteri Bottas led the way out on track with Sergio Perez following, as other drivers did not seem in a hurry to start their session.
Cadillac are doing some out laps to confirm all was ok after the team decided to change their engines.
Perez had a moment at Turn 9 but managed not to end up in the gravel as Hulkenberg soon joined the action as others still waited.
Franco and Lewis trying to keep cool before heading out into the heat on track #F1 #BarcelonaGP pic.twitter.com/yoXjVMFZVH
— Formula 1 (@F1) June 13, 2026
20 minutes into the session, Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon make their way out on track. Esteban Ocon and Oliver Bearman followed.
Norris then joined as the action started building up but the Champion soon reported low power, something Sainz also experienced in the Williams.
The session was finally properly underway with 35 minutes remaining on the clock.
After a slow start we finally have some cars on track!
— Formula 1 (@F1) June 13, 2026
And it's the two home heroes, Carlos and Fernando 🤩#F1 #BarcelonaGP pic.twitter.com/FvNtYv5sUK
Piastri soon reported that he had no front grip, as if his front wing was broken while Hamilton had a moment in Turn 2 but managed to hold it.
With 25 minutes remaining, the Yellow flag was out as Bottas spun into the gravel trap at Turn 10. It quickly became a Red flag.
"I lost my brake pedals. It's gone, the pedal is gone. I got very lucky there," Bottas radioed as replay showed him downshifting hard to try and stop the car which didn't work.
Perez radioed asking what happened with his teammate, but didn't get a straight answer....
Here's what happened to Valtteri 👀#F1 #BarcelonaGP pic.twitter.com/nD60Qbv6D1
— Formula 1 (@F1) June 13, 2026
The session was restarted with around 20 minutes remaining, but there weren't many takes as most of the drivers stayed in their pits.
However, Lindblad and Lance Stroll were out on track and had a close moment which luckily ended without contact.
The action ramped up again in the final ten minutes of the session with drivers putting on new Soft tyres for some final qualifying simulations.
Antonelli was frustrated with traffic as he had to abort two flying laps.
"Oh my god, Stroll as always," he radioed after encountering the Canadian in Turn 2.
He also had an issue with a Haas after which he said: "Oh my god mate, it is unbelievable, unbelievable. I'm going to box."
Antonelli is frustrated by all the traffic on track 😖
— Formula 1 (@F1) June 13, 2026
He returns to the pits voicing his disapproval over the radio #F1 #BarcelonaGP pic.twitter.com/Ttj1umI5LN
Hadjar was not happy with his car and said: "Are you kidding me, what kind of understeer is this?"
Antonelli could not put in another qualifying sim and the session was over, concluded with practice starts.
Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix FP3 Classification
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