Pierre Gasly topped the final practice session for the 2024 Dutch Grand Prix, as session that was marred by rain and a lengthy Red flag.
The session started in wet condition which meant many drivers did not bother to get on track until conditions improved, but half way into the session, Logan Sargeant crashed heavily into the barriers at Turn 4, bringing out the Red flag.
Such was the damage to the barriers following the American Formula 1 driver's crash that FP3 was restarted with only two minutes remaining on the clock.
Several drivers did not run before the crash and had to do so in the final two minutes of running which gave us a skewed on the order.
As a result the top three in the final practice session at Zandvoort was an unfamiliar combination as Gasly was fastest, ahead of Kevin Magnussen in second and Valtteri Bottas in third.
Nothing can be deduced from the session, as we would have to wait till qualifying to find out what the pecking order is, and to make matters more interesting, rain is expected to hit the track just in time for qualifying, which means it will be a wet session while dry conditions are predicted for the race.
That will make it tricky for the teams to decide what kind of setup they go with on their cars.
Buildup towards FP3
From what we have seen on Friday during FP1 and FP2, Max Verstappen will not have an easy homecoming this weekend, and maintaining the reign he has enjoyed over the Dutch GP since 2021 will not be a straight forward affair.
McLaren look menacing so far, the MCL38 with its latest upgrades having the upper hand over the RB20 both in race and qualifying trims, while Mercedes are there ready to pounce and crash the Papaya/Blue party.
However, Verstappen can never be discounted and will always manage to extract something special from his RB20, not to mention that Red Bull still have the advantage over McLaren operationally, which means it will be tight in qualifying and the race.
Friday started with rain but it then dried out, while the wind was a massive factor, but Saturday morning saw rain return over Zandvoort, which means it may be back to square one in terms of grip levels on the track especially if it dries up again ahead of qualifying, which will make things tricky for the teams.
On to FP3 to see how the weekend develops from there.
FP3 Session Highlights
The the final Dutch GP practice session started in wet conditions as track temperature was 20 degrees Celsius, with ambient temperature at 18 degrees, while the wind seemed to have dropped down.
A similar picture to Friday's first practice as drivers sat around leisurely in their garages not in a hurry to get out on the wet track.
But a few minutes in, Nico Hulkenberg and Magnussen ventured out on the track with full wet tyres bolted to his Haas, and returned after an exploratory lap the former reporting it was already "Intermediate conditions".
Soon other drivers joined the action, Oscar Piastri, Carlos Sainz, Fernando Alonso, Lance Stroll, on Intermediate tyres and times started going up on the leaderboard.
But soon incidents started happened, Alonso and Magnussen going off and into the gravel, while Hulkenberg ended up in the barrier having slid off at Turn 1.
"It's the same as yesterday, I touched the brake and locked up," the German radioed.
George Russell had a similar moment to Hulkenberg at Turn 1 but just managed to stop his Mercedes before hitting the barriers like the German did.
But soon Sargeant brought out the Red Flag after crashing his Williams heavily coming out of Turn 3 and taking too much kerb also into the grass, which meant he met with the barriers at Turn 4.
The team will have a huge job if they want to get Sargeant into qualifying as his car will most probably require a chassis change... The end of 2024 couldn't come soon enough for Williams...
Importantly, Sargeant walked away unharmed from the crash and just as his FW46 caught fire.
The marshals went about doing their job, extinguishing the fire in Sargeant's stricken Williams and clearing the debris from the track while also inspecting barriers.
The Armco Barrier at the impact area required full replacement which made the Red flag period even longer.
In the meantime, the destroyed Williams car was returned back to the garage and the look on the mechanics' faces told the whole story as they started the painful process of rebuilding the car.
Race control confirmed the session would be started with five minutes remaining then delayed that a couple of times as they finally green lighted the session with only two minutes remaining as car piled up in the pitlane for one final lap.
Replay showed an eager Verstappen overtaking Piastri on the way out of the pitlane in an effort to get a lap in, as before Sargeant's crash he did not do any running.
The Dutchman was given a Black & White flag for his antics that saw him drive over the white line while exiting the pits.
Some drivers managed to put in some laps and a practice start in the end.
How they finished
Gasly was fastest in the final practice for the Dutch GP, as he managed to put in the best time of 1:20.311 in the dying moments of the session.
Magnussen was second fastest with Bottas third, as Lando Norris was fourth fastest ahead of Alonso who was fifth in the Aston Martin.
Esteban Ocon was sixth fastest ahead of Piastri in seventh with Stroll eighth followed by Hulkenberg in ninth and Sanz in tenth.
Russell was down in 13th, with Lewis Hamilton 15th fastest, as Charles Leclerc was 16th followed by Verstappen in 17th.
Dutch GP FP3 Classification
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