Gasly leads wet last practice session at Istanbul Park, Russell raises the red flag

Pierre Gasly was the surprising pacemaker in the final workout around Intercity Istanbul Park on Saturday morning when rain fell on the house of the Turkey Grand Prix.

At first the track was saturated and it took a few minutes for someone to venture out on the track with full rain tires. However, when the rain subsided and then stopped, intermediate tires were the way to go until the very end.

A number of riders found the conditions difficult, particularly turn nine where the track seemed to hold more water than any other turn, but turn two saw it Williams races‘S George Russell skid into the gravel bed after touching the wetter part of the track on the outside of the bend and aquaplaning occurred.

Russell who will join Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula 1 Team In 2022 there was no escaping the gravel trap and officials had no choice but to throw the red flags and end the session after 22 minutes.

When resuming the Red Bull Racing Duo of Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez took turns at the top of the timesheet, although the former was one of those who spun at turn nine, the Dutchman completed a neat three hundred and sixty degree turn before returning to the track.

Also the difficult conditions on turn nine and the fact that they turn on turn nine were Charles Leclerc, Sebastian Vettel and Nikita Mazepin.

But when the track continued to dry, it was Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda‘s Gasly, who took over in the lead, his lap of 1: 30.447 was enough to put Verstappen in second and Pérez in third.

Carlos Sainz Jr. was one of the busiest riders of the session as he continued to focus on long runs knowing that after an engine change at his end he will start from the end of the field Scuderia Ferrari, but the Spaniard was fourth fastest ahead of his team-mate Leclerc.

Fernando Alonso finished sixth for the Alpine F1 team before Kimi Raikkonenwho as one of the last his time for the Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN Team jump to seventh place while AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda‘Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas and the second Alps of Esteban Ocon completed the top ten.

Alfa Romeo was called for an informal chat with stewards after the meeting after Raikkonen was released in the way Mick Schumacher in the pit lane while Antonio Giovinazzi missed the top ten in the second Alfa Romeo.

However, the Italian ended up just ahead of the leader Aston Martin Cognizant Formula 1 team Vettel’s car, while Schumacher an impressive thirteenth for the Uralkali Haas F1 Team in front of the two McLaren F1 team Driver, Daniel Ricciardo and Lando Norris.

2020 pole sitter Lance walk was only sixteenth in the second Aston Martin, just ahead of Haas’ Mazepin, while he is currently the championship leader Lewis Hamilton completed just five laps and finished eighteenth in the second Mercedes, just ahead of Williams’ Nicholas Latifi and Russel.

Intercity Istanbul Park Free Practice 3 Result