Belgium – EL3: Pérez best time, Leclerc at fault

After Carlos Sainz et Max Verstappen during the first two sessions in Belgium, it was Sergio Pérez who stood out with the best time in Free Practice 3. 

ALSO READ > Belgium – EL2: Verstappen takes the lead

The Williams were in good shape at the start of the session with Alex's best time Albon. The Thai was beaten by the Alfa Romeo, first of all Valtteri Bottasthen Guanyu-Zhou. The Chinese, who also received a penalty on the starting grid, set a mark in 1:47.795. We had to wait until the last half hour approached to see the usual leading roles at the top of the rankings.

Carlos Sainz was at the top of the timesheet in 1:46.461 ahead of his teammate Charles Leclerc, at 0.429 seconds. Albon confirmed that he was definitely very fast during this hour of driving by inserting himself between the two Italian cars, with the records of the first and last sectors.

Solid lap from Albono and he momentarily jumps up to P2 as we cross the midway point of the session 💪#WeAreWilliams #BelgianGP pic.twitter.com/4vPeEU29lv

— Williams Racing (@WilliamsRacing) August 27

Both Red Bull then imposed their law. Sergio Pérez was the first of the two drivers from the Austrian team to stand out in 1:45.972. After a first attempt aborted by a yellow flag in the last sector – although the light panels did not seem to indicate it, Max Verstappen moved into first position with a time of 1:45.480. An investigation was nevertheless opened against the Batavian for not having slowed down sufficiently under the yellow flag...

Lando Norris (McLaren) and Carlos Sainz were closing in on the world champion, but the Dutchman improved the benchmark in 1:45.184. The end of the session was marked by Charles Leclerc going off the track. The Monegasque damaged his front wing in the wall of tires after crossing the gravel. He started again, but the red flag was raised by the race direction. The session resumed for the last four minutes. Sergio Pérez took the opportunity to steal the best time from his teammate on his last flying lap, in 1:45.047.

Carlos Sainz took third place. Lando Norris, Fernando Alonso (Alpine), George Russell (Mercedes), Charles Leclerc, Sebastian Vettel (Aston Martin), Esteban Ocon (Alpine) and Pierre Gasly (Alpha Tauri) completed the top 10. Mick Schumacher (Haas) experienced mechanical problems with his car.