FP3: Verstappen tops wet final practice at Spa-Francorchamps as Stroll crashes out

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen ended Saturday’s third and final practice session at the top of the timesheets, with running limited by persistent rain and a crash for Aston Martin driver Lance Stroll that brought out the red flags.

After a largely dry first day at Spa-Francorchamps, showers overnight and through the morning made for a sodden track surface when FP3 began at 1230 local time – meaning drivers bolted on intermediate and wet tyres for their initial runs.

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With a “big chunk” of rain forecast five to 10 minutes into the session, as per Daniel Ricciardo’s race engineer, plenty of cars hit the track early on to get some laps under their belts, bringing a range of lap times between the 2m and 2m 30s mark.

Then, as predicted, the heavens opened and topped up the puddles all over the track – TV replays highlighting the challenge when both Lando Norris and Yuki Tsunoda were caught running wide and taking trips through the gravel at the Les Combes section.

A few moments later, the yellow flags were replaced by a red flag when Stroll lost control of his Aston Martin through Eau Rouge, snapped into the run-off area and thumped the inside wall, which caused significant car damage and put him out of the session.

After Stroll’s car was cleared away, and the Canadian got taken to the Medical Centre for precautionary checks, the session resumed with some 40 minutes left on the clock – Verstappen’s early effort of 2m 01.565s still the benchmark.

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No drivers were in a rush to head back out on track when the green light came back on at the end of the pit lane, though, with teams biding their time in the comfort of the pit lane as rain continued to fall and the track continued to get wetter.

But there was another twist with 25 minutes remaining when the red flag appeared again due to the track conditions.

The action eventually resumed with a couple of minutes left on the clock, allowing for some practice starts in the slippery conditions, but Verstappen remained on top via a time almost 20 seconds slower than Friday’s fastest lap in the dry.

Oscar Piastri was 1.4 seconds away in P2, with the Alpines of Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon sandwiching the other McLaren of Norris, and Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc rounding out the top six from the sidelined Stroll.

Valtteri Bottas wound up eighth in his Kick Sauber, from Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes and Sergio Perez’s Red Bull, with Alex Albon (Williams), Nico Hulkenberg (Haas) and Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) in P11-P13 respectively.

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RB pair Ricciardo and Tsunoda were 14th and 15th, while Sauber’s Zhou Guanyu and Williams’s Logan Sargeant were the last drivers to post a lap time, leaving Mercedes man George Russell, the Haas of Kevin Magnussen and the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz at the back of the pack.

Drivers and teams will now debrief in the paddock and make any final set-up adjustments before qualifying later this afternoon, with the grid-deciding session – which looks set to feature more rain – scheduled to begin at 1600 local time.