The Aston Martin’s were the first to hit the track in FP3, both Stroll and Alonso completing one lap on the mediums before boxing for hards and going on their way. The two had a quiet session, completing their run plans and meeting expectations.
Different strategies were at play in FP3, as the teams and drivers opted to run different compounds throughout the session.
Sergio Perez set the pace early in the session, holding his own out on the track and leading the way comfortably ahead of his teammate and the rest of the pack.
The Alpine duo of Ocon and Gasly occupied 3rd and 4th, behind the Red Bull’s for a large part of the session. The team will certainly look to bounce back after a difficult Bahrain performance for both of their drivers.
Alphatauri Struggles
Nyck De Vries made an early exit from the session after a suspected power unit issue forced the team to bring him in before setting a representative time. The unit will be changed in preparation for qualifying later in the day but Nyck will not take part in the majority of FP3’s running.
De Vries is the only rookie on the grid who has not raced in Jeddah, but his pedigree and experience in street tracks like Diriyah could help him massively this weekend.
Both Piastri and Sargeant have raced in Jeddah in the F2 championship, with Piastri taking pole in 2021 and standing on the top step of the podium for the feature race.
The other Alphatauri of Tsunoda completed 20 laps, most of which were on the medium tyre. He boxed at the end of the session to bolt on the softs but struggled to set a competitive time through the traffic.
Growing Concerns over Ferrari Durability
Charles Leclerc made a worrying comment over the radio after suffering a small issue with the gearbox, saying “I lost the first shift”.
Leclerc will take a 10-place penalty for Sunday’s race, but the durability of the Ferrari is still a major concern.
Ferrari are suspected to have turned the engine down in practice to save performance, but this raises questions as to why the team feel the need to save the durability of parts so early into the season.
Improvements for Mclaren
Oscar Piastri finished FP3 only 0.08s away from his more experienced teammate, the two Mclarens in 7th and 8th. This shows a clear improvement from Bahrain but qualifying will tell the truth of where the Papaya cars really are in the pecking order.
Traffic Paradise
Traffic is proving to be a recurring issue, there have been close calls up and down the field as drivers take drastic action to jump out of the way for those on flying laps behind in FP3.
Race control noted an incident involving Max Verstappen and Lando Norris. Verstappen impeded Norris and forced him onto the curbs to avoid the slow moving Red Bull. The Dutchman apologised and expressed his frustration at the team for not warning him of the Mclaren behind.
The stewards decided no further action would be taken but the ongoing struggles with impeding are a cause for concern going into qualifying.
Ferrari struggle for pace on the softs
As FP3 came to an end the regular order resumed – Verstappen led the way by 6 tenths over Perez, the two Aston Martin’s trailing behind in 4th and 5th.
The two Ferrari’s sat 17th and 18th before final runs, the majority of their running on the medium tyres meant they were over 2 seconds off the pace set by Verstappen.
Leclerc’s first soft run took him only to 10th, still 1.4s away from Max, and Sainz snatched 10th and pushed his teammate to 11th.
The two drivers went for a second soft run, Leclerc putting it 6th and Sainz improving but only marginally due to traffic.