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F1 Dutch GP Live Commentary and Updates - FP3 and Qualifying
Saturday's action from the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort
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The session will resume in one minute, says the timing screen.
Going back to Vettel's earlier moment at Turn 10, we've just heard over the team radio that he was caught out by the tailwind. Kudos though to the track designers - it would have been easy to leave a strip of tarmac run-off there to forgive mistakes, not so in this instance with the gravel waiting to suck people in. Do that in race trim and it will cost you a place or three.
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The Ferrari is being craned away and Sainz is back in the garage. We'll hopefully be back underway shortly.
Interestingly, Hamilton in P6 is the only man in the top 14 who has set his best time on softs so far. That suggests there's plenty of scope for changes in the order when we resume.
Just before the red flag, we'd been inclined to mention that Perez hadn't shown much by way of form so far this weekend and was languishing in the lower reaches of the top 10. But moments before the session stoppage, the Red Bull man vaulted himself into third, 0.161s behind pace-setter Alonso on the mediums.
Sainz thankfully hops out unharmed. Seeing the car at that angle on the banking reminds one of a sorry-looking NASCAR after a shunt at Bristol.
Replays show the Ferrari just turned right into the wall when it should have been going left into the banking. It headed straight up the track and gave Sainz little warning of what was to come.
There's quite a lot of front-end damage on the Ferrari, with the left-front wheel knocked askew. That'll be a big job for the mechanics to sort over the lunch break.
Red flag
Red flag, Sainz has shunted the Ferrari at Turn 3. "Sorry guys, I don't know what happened," he says over the radio.
Bottas has now ventured out of the pits for the first time, meaning the only driver we've still yet to see is Verstappen. Here's the full story on his penalty no-call: https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/verstappen-escapes-dutch-gp-penalty-after-red-flag-incident/6660044/
Vettel meanwhile has come to grief in Turn 10 - a big snap of of mid-corner oversteer and there's the gravel waiting to greet him. After a bit of rallycrossing, the newly-qualified fireman scrambles back onto the track.
Times are dropping by the second now - Alonso retakes top spot on a 1m11.705s, 0.063s ahead of Leclerc. Norris is now third, Sainz fourth and Hamilton down to fifth - with Giovinazzi moving up to sixth.
Gasly now takes third with his first effort on the mediums, a 1m12.030s, but is then shunted down to fourth as FP2 pace-setter Leclerc goes top on a 1m11.768s.
Alonso's hold on top spot is brief though, as Hamilton now retakes P1 (are we back in 2007?) on a 1m11.964s, again on the soft tyres. He's got plenty of them to use up after all the lost running yesterday.
Giovinazzi meanwhile slots into fifth on a 1m12.658s, just 0.020s behind Ricciardo.
Alonso is now out on the medium and sets the best lap so far - including the fastest first and final sectors - with a 1m11.996s.
Ricciardo is clearly trying hard - he has a big right-front lock-up into Turn 1 as he scrubs off speed at the end of the pit straight.
Norris is also running the mediums early doors, and his first effort on the yellow-walled tyres is quicker than team-mate Ricciardo's. It's a 1m12.134s for the Brit, who slots into second.
Meanwhile, we understand that Verstappen has escaped sanction for passing under yellows in practice yesterday. The sigh of relief from the massed spectators could be heard all the way in Harwich I expect.
Ricciardo's first effort on mediums puts him second, a 1m12.638s for the McLaren driver. That's 0.628s behind Hamilton's soft-tyre effort that currently stands as the session's benchmark.
Kubica's best effort so far is a 1m15.217s as he feels his way up towards the pace in a car he's not totally familiar with. It will be a struggle for him to escape Q1 regardless given Alfa's form so far this year, but the 2008 Canadian GP winner will hope to at least be qualifying ahead of the rookies in the Haas.
Replays showed that Hamilton just dipped his left-hand front wheel into the gravel on the inside of the Turn 12 hairpin, scattering stones across the road.
Sure enough, that's immediately eclipsed on the first soft tyre run today from Hamilton - who is making up for lost time today after managing only three laps before stopping out on track in FP2 yesterday. It's a 1m12.010s for the Mercedes charger.
Mick Schumacher has set the best time so far, a 1m14.099s in his Haas. Don't expect that to last though.
Kubica's unexpected F1 return is the latest unforeseen event in a tumultuous few weeks for the Pole. He was one lap away from winning the LMP2 class at the Le Mans 24 Hours in the WRT ORECA-Gibson 07 he shared with Louis Deletraz and Yifei Ye when they were denied by a broken throttle sensor. Worse still, happening on the last lap meant they were not classified, a la Toyota in 2016.
Kubica is immediately out on the red-walled soft tyres, while Mazepin - who was left a bit red-faced yesterday by bringing out the red flags with an FP2 spin at Turn 11 - follows on the mediums.
Lights green
Away we go then, FP3 has begun.
As expected, Kubica is the first man out of the garage and is queued at the end of the pitlane waiting for the green light.
Just over a minute to go now before the session goes green. Conditions as they were yesterday are bright and sunny, so fingers crossed we'll have fewer interruptions today.
Depending on the outcome of the steward's hearing, Verstappen's victory hopes may be heavily compromised with overtaking set to be at a premium around Zandvoort's fast sweepers. But despite managing only the fifth fastest time in FP2 yesterday, our on-site reporter Matt Kew explains that the Red Bull man has plenty more pace in hand: https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/why-verstappens-subdued-dutch-gp-practice-times-hide-a-major-shot-at-a-famous-home-win/6659714/
On track, meanwhile, home hero Max Verstappen has been summoned to the stewards for allegedly overtaking under yellow flag conditions. He may be the darling of the 'orange army' that have massed in the grandstands this week, but in the eye of the stewards - including 1985 Indianapolis 500 winner Danny Sullivan - that matters not a jot. Here's what we know so far: https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/verstappen-summoned-to-stewards-for-overtaking-under-red-flag/6659904/
Meanwhile, Williams CEO Jost Capito has said that his team is in no rush to decide on its lineup, with persistent links to reigning Formula E champion Nyck de Vries (a Mercedes driver, of course) still refusing to go away. Here's what he had to say on the matter: https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/williams-no-time-pressure-to-decide-f1-2022-line-up/6659946/
Aside from Kubica, what else has been happening? Well, as you may have noticed, there have been plenty of rumblings in the driver market in recent weeks. It's largely expected that there will be an announcement soon involving George Russell and Valtteri Bottas - but they aren't the only figures whose futures are at stake. Red Bull reserve Alex Albon has been linked with a return to the grid at Williams, although there may be some obstacles given that team's tie-up with Mercedes. Full story on that here: https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/horner-great-shame-if-mercedes-blocks-albon-move-to-williams/6659659/
Although Kubica has driven the Alfa C41 in three practice sessions this year, he faces a steep learning curve as he acclimatises to the Zandvoort track with a day's less running than everybody else. His best result at the circuit in his Formula 3 career was a fifth place with Mucke Motorsport in 2004.
Raikkonen is the first driver this season to miss a race due to COVID. Last season, Racing Point drivers Sergio Perez and Lance Stroll missed three races between them with COVID, as Nico Hulkenberg stepped in, while Lewis Hamilton of course missed the Sakhir GP - where his place was memorably taken by George Russell as Jack Aitken made his F1 debut at Williams.
It marks the first race that Raikkonen - who announced his F1 retirement earlier this week - has missed since the 2017 Malaysian GP, when his Ferrari had a battery issue before the start.
The big news this morning is that Kimi Raikkonen has been forced to withdraw from the event after testing positive for COVID-19. In his place, Alfa Romeo has called up third driver Robert Kubica to make his grand prix return for the first time since Abu Dhabi 2019. Full story here: https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/kubica-to-make-f1-return-as-raikkonen-tests-covid-positive/6659882/
Good morning one and all, it's Saturday at Zandvoort and we're just over 15 minutes away from the start of FP3 for the Dutch GP. Thank you for joining us.
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