On Saturday afternoon, the third free practice session for the French Grand Prix will start at the Paul Ricard circuit. It is the last hour for all F1 teams to prepare for qualifying. For Red Bull Racing, the final practice session will be all about finding more speed over one lap, whereas Ferrari might be trying to better balance their single-lap pace with race pace.
FP3 for the French Grand Prix
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Verstappen much faster than Ferrari in longrun, but Binotto hopeful
In the qualifying runs of the second free practice session of the previous day, things did not go according to plan for Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez. The Dutchman trailed Carlos Sainz by more than half a second, while Sergio Perez was completely out of the game. He conceded a second and a half and was only tenth in the session. However, Red Bull are convinced that the actual difference is a lot less than the timesheet suggested.
Mercedes not up to it yet
Mercedes will also be hoping to make a move. The W13 should suit the characteristics of the Paul Ricard circuit and so Toto Wolff's men were hoping to fight for pole position. Based on the first two free practice sessions, Lewis Hamilton and George Russell are unlikely to do so, but they may have found something else last night.
Other teams that didn't quite get it right were Aston Martin and Alpine, while Aston Martin and AlphaTauri seemed to have their act together. Will the proportions in the midfield remain the same or will we see a lot of shifts? We will get the answer in FP3.