French GP: Max Verstappen strikes back at Ferrari in FP3

Max Verstappen topped the final practice session at Circuit Paul Ricard on Saturday ahead of qualifying for the French Grand Prix, hitting back at Ferrari who had been quickest on Friday.

Charles Leclerc and then Carlos Sainz had topped FP1 and FP2 respectively yesterday afternoon, with Verstappen keeping them company in the top three both times, but he’ll naturally have wanted to see more pace from his Red Bull going into qualifying.

He certainly got that in FP3, then, with him going quickest from Sainz by over three-tenths of a second, making the battle for pole that little more intriguing later this afternoon.

Sainz, of course, won’t be starting from pole even if he goes fastest later on, with him handed a plethora of grid penalties to shunt him to the back of the field for lights out, and he’ll be starting from the back row alongside Kevin Magnussen who has had a similar turn of fate.

Charles Leclerc was third quickest in the other Ferrari, meanwhile, with him escaping from a spin without issue during the session – barring some ruined tyres – and he’ll be hoping for a fully clean run in quali shortly.

Behind those three was Lewis Hamilton in the Mercedes.

Lewis said that the car was lacking in a lot of areas after Friday practice, and so whether they can challenge for pole this afternoon is perhaps up for debate despite them being fancied to be in the conversation at the start of the weekend.

Sergio Perez was fifth fastest as he tries to close the gap on his team-mate and the two Ferraris, whilst George Russell in the other Merc was sixth-fastest.

Fernando Alonso boosted hopes of Alpine success at their home race in coming seventh, ahead of Alex Albon in the Williams, adding fuel to the fire that he might be a dark