Rand Norris set a formidable pace ahead of qualifying with the dominant McLaren One Two head in the final practice session at the Dutch Grand Prix.
The Zandvoort Circuit began green after an overnight storm, but the truck grabbed quickly in the gorgeous sunlight, with more rubber laid out.
Norris led after his first lap on soft, but in his second attempt on used rubber, teammate Oscar Piastri just surpassed 0.1. But Britton reached for his second fresh soft set with his only push-lap.
Setting purple times in all three sectors, Norris rocketed the rocket at his best time of 1M08.972S. It’s faster than his pole position time since 2024, held by Max Verstappen and 0.087 seconds slower than the performance set for 2021.
Piastri’s reply means he beats the 0.242s from his teammate’s benchmark, a bit sloppy in the first sector, but otherwise there’s no obvious mistake. The second round of Soft managed to get Australia’s overall benefit, but we saw him pinch the purple final sector.
Unlike Friday, no other drivers in the same league as McLaren had separate Piastri from Norris. George Russell was closest in the order, but the Mercedes driver had a supposition of 0.886 seconds from the pace.
Russell’s session could still get worse. Britton was able to see the steward after a session over the incident that ended the incident with Fernando Alonso in a pit entry.
Having completed the flying lap, Alonso spots Russell, a slow-moving, moving Russell on the racing line, and tries to pass him to the right. However, Russell seemed to have decided to enter the pit lane late and suddenly turned to the right. Alonso is forced into the pit to avoid a collision, and Russell returns to the truck and zinks when he realizes he’s done.
The Spaniard, who was an impressive second place at the end of Friday, finished FP3 in 10th, finishing at 1.26 seconds.
Carlos Size was the strong fourth, with Williams’ driver piping his family’s favorite Max Verstappen in 0.012 seconds.
Charles Leclerc is Ferrari’s best representative, 0.966 seconds from his sixth pace. This divides Mercedes, Red Bull Racing and Ferrari together with Williams in just 0.08 seconds just hours before qualifying.
Alex Albon came in seventh in the second Williams car ahead of Lance’s walk. His Aston Martin team had to work all night to repair his shipwrecked car after his big FP2 crash.
Isack Hardjar was ninth fastest after missing all of the FP2 due to power unit issues, with teammate Liam Lawson in 11th in 0.134 seconds, and the Racing Bulls pair sandwiched Alonso on the 10th.
Tsunoda was 12th, 0.424 seconds slower than Verstappen.
Gabriel Boltreto came in 13th place with Lewis Hamilton, Oliver Baerman, Nico Halkenberg and Andrea Kimi Antonelli.
Alpine endured a disastrous session with Pierre Guthrie and Franco Colapinto locking up the last two places. Guthrie was 1.991 seconds off the pace, while Corapinto was another 0.091s.
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