Verstappen half a second clear in final practice as Sainz crashes

The Red Bull racer was fastest in all three sectors around a revamped Zandvoort as he set a searing pace during the qualifying simulation runs on soft tyres in FP3, becoming the only driver to get under the 1m10s bracket.

Verstappen pulled a whole half second clear of Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas, while world championship leader Lewis Hamilton finished third, 0.794s as he played catch up after missing the majority of second practice due to his engine-related stoppage.

An accident for Sainz half way through FP3 disrupted the session and caused the fourth red flag of the weekend, meaning there has been at least one stoppage in every session so far.

The Spaniard lost control of his Ferrari coming out of Turn 2 and slammed into the barriers at Hugenholtzboch.

A big sideways impact for caused damage to both the front and rear of Sainz’s car, leaving his Ferrari mechanics with plenty of work to do in the break before qualifying.

Having provided his Red Bull teammate with a massive tow in the final sector of his quickest flying lap, Sergio Perez set a lap time good enough for fourth, albeit nearly a full second down on Verstappen.

Fernando Alonso was a strong fifth for Alpine, ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris and the Aston Martin pair of Lance Stroll and Sebastian Vettel.

Rounding out the top 10 were Charles Leclerc and Pierre Gasly for Ferrari and AlphaTauri respecivtly.

Robert Kubica was 19th having been drafted in as a late substitute for Alfa Romeo regular Kimi Raikkonen, who was ruled out of the remainder of the weekend following a positive COVID-19 test.

The returning Pole ended FP3 two-tenths clear of Haas rookie Mick Schumacher, who took a trip through the gravel during the soft-tyre runs.

Full final practice results for the 2021 F1 Dutch Grand Prix