Red Bull F1's Max Verstappen is fastest at Suzuka, 0.294 seconds behind Ferrari / F1 Japan GP 3rd run[F1-Gate.com]

The third free practice session of the Japanese Grand Prix of the 18th round of the 2022 F1 World Championship took place at the Suzuka circuit on Saturday 8 October and Max Verstappen (Red Bull Racing) set the best time thanks to the improved surface road.

A complete change from the first day, which took place in wet conditions. The Suzuka circuit on Saturday turned into sunny skies and mild temperatures, leaving the Saishu free practice track as dry as the riders craved for FP3, but with gusts of wind on the track.

Drivers and teams are trying to collect as much data as possible and a series of short and long runs were performed in the 60 minute session using a mix of soft, medium and hard Pirelli.

In the end, all the teams attacked on soft tires, with Max Verstappen taking the lead towards the end with a time of 1: 30.671. Carlos Sainz Jr. was 0.294 seconds behind, followed by Charles Leclerc and Scuderia Ferrari 0.015 seconds behind.

Fernando Alonso (Alpine F1 Team) finished fourth in an impressive qualifying simulation, just ten tenths of a second behind Singapore Grand Prix winner Sergio Perez in another Red Bull Racing car.

George Russell drove the Mercedes F1 in sixth place, half a second ahead of team-mate Lewis Hamilton, but “nearly collided” with the slow Pierre Gasly at the last bend of Turn 11. I was terrified.

McLaren’s Lando Norris finished eighth ahead of Esteban Ocon (Alpine). The battle for 4th place in the constructors’ standings, just four points behind, shows no signs of easing. Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll completes the top ten.

As he did on Friday in the wet, Daniel Ricciardo (McLaren) went off the track at the final chicane to reach 11th position. This is followed by the flagship bikes of each team made up of Alex Albon (Williams) and Valtteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo).

Sebastian Vettel was 14th in his second Aston Martin, Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen dropped from 5th in FP2 to 15th in dry conditions and teammate Mick Schumacher lost to a chassis change following a a fall in FP1.

In his first home Grand Prix weekend, Yuki Tsunoda continued his smooth ride in the AlphaTauri Scuderia, ahead of Guanyu Zhou (Alfa Romeo) and Nicolas Latifi (Williams). Team-mate Pierre Gasly dropped to the bottom of the standings, 2.2 seconds behind the leader.