***Authors note: Carlos Sainz was ruled out of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix prior to Free Practice Three after being diagnosed with appendicitis. He will undergo surgery and Oliver Bearman will be replacing him. All of us at RacerViews wish Carlos a speedy recovery and we look forward to seeing him again soon.***
Friday afternoons final practice session came to a close in Saudi Arabia as Max Verstappen posted the sessions top time as teams prepare for this evenings qualifying. The Dutchman set his fast lap of 1:28.412 on a set of soft tires as his team performed their qualifying runs mid-way through the session. Charles LeClerc followed less than two-tenths behind Verstappen with the second quickest time of 1:28.608 ahead of Sergio Perez, George Russell, and Lando Norris.
Yesterday’s fastest man, Fernando Alonso settled in for 6th place alongside teammate Lance Stroll as they were followed by Oscar Piastri and Lewis Hamilton.
A new face also populated the time sheets today as Oliver Bearman, filling in for Carlos Sainz (see authors note above), spent his FP3 acclimating to the SF24 in anticipation of this evening’s qualifying. He would go on to end the session tenth overall with a 1:29.306 lap time.
Logan Sargeant only managed 2 laps of running as he scraped the wall early in the session, damaging the front of his Williams machine and was unable to take part in the remainder of practice.
WATCH: Heavy crash for Zhou brings out red flags during FP3 in Saudi Arabia
Zhou Guanyu caused the only red flag of the FP sessions, putting his Stake Sauber into the wall with heavy damage as the clock approached 15 minutes remaining in the session.
Qualifying is up next at 20:20 local time, stay tuned for more action under the lights as we head to our second quali session of 2024.
FP1 Report – CLICK HERE
FP2 Report – CLICK HERE
FORMULA 1 STC SAUDI ARABIAN GRAND PRIX 2024 Schedule
| Date | Session | Time (Local Circuit) |
| Mar. 7th | Practice 1 | 16:30 – 17:30 |
| Practice 2 | 20:00 – 21:00 | |
| Mar. 8th | Practice 3 | 16:30 – 17:30 |
| Qualifying | 20:00 – 21:00 | |
| Mar. 9th | Race | 20:00 |
Free Practice 3 Results:
| POS | NO | DRIVER | CAR | TIME | GAP | LAPS |
| 1 | 1 | Max Verstappen | RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT | 1:28.412 | 12 | |
| 2 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | FERRARI | 1:28.608 | 0.196s | 15 |
| 3 | 11 | Sergio Perez | RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT | 1:28.906 | 0.494s | 12 |
| 4 | 63 | George Russell | MERCEDES | 1:28.964 | 0.552s | 16 |
| 5 | 4 | Lando Norris | MCLAREN MERCEDES | 1:28.971 | 0.559s | 10 |
| 6 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES | 1:29.038 | 0.626s | 13 |
| 7 | 18 | Lance Stroll | ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES | 1:29.127 | 0.715s | 13 |
| 8 | 81 | Oscar Piastri | MCLAREN MERCEDES | 1:29.213 | 0.801s | 10 |
| 9 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | MERCEDES | 1:29.268 | 0.856s | 18 |
| 10 | 38 | Oliver Bearman | FERRARI | 1:29.306 | 0.894s | 21 |
| 11 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | HAAS FERRARI | 1:29.485 | 1.073s | 11 |
| 12 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | ALPINE RENAULT | 1:29.546 | 1.134s | 12 |
| 13 | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | RB HONDA RBPT | 1:29.572 | 1.160s | 17 |
| 14 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | ALPINE RENAULT | 1:29.575 | 1.163s | 12 |
| 15 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | HAAS FERRARI | 1:29.675 | 1.263s | 10 |
| 16 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | RB HONDA RBPT | 1:29.740 | 1.328s | 14 |
| 17 | 23 | Alexander Albon | WILLIAMS MERCEDES | 1:29.808 | 1.396s | 12 |
| 18 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | KICK SAUBER FERRARI | 1:30.083 | 1.671s | 20 |
| 19 | 24 | Zhou Guanyu | KICK SAUBER FERRARI | 1:30.739 | 2.327s | 12 |
| 20 | 2 | Logan Sargeant | WILLIAMS MERCEDES | 2 |
