Max Verstappen from Red Bull emerged at the top of a rain-soaked FP3 session during the Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix, where Lance Stroll’s crash led to a suspension of running amid heavy rainfall.
Oscar Piastri and Pierre Gasly from Alpine claimed the second and third spots, respectively, with Lando Norris in the second McLaren finishing fourth, just before Stroll’s incident halted the action, leaving minimal running afterwards.
Verstappen was positioned at the end of the pit lane to take to the track as soon as the one-hour session started, marking the first benchmark time of 2m03.232s, which was about 20 seconds slower than the fastest time recorded in FP2 on Friday.
Continuing with a four-lap stint on intermediate tires, Verstappen improved his time to 2m03.565s as the session moved past the first five minutes, leading Piastri, Gasly, and Norris.
Norris encountered trouble at Turn 9—the last section of Les Combes—where he skidded through the gravel. Consequently, McLaren opted to replace the floor of his MCL38.
As the rain intensified, drivers ceased making improvements, and they began gradually returning to the pits when Stroll crashed at Raidillon, losing control of his Aston Martin partway up the hill from Eau Rouge.
Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin AMR24
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
The Canadian lost control and spun out, apparently due to aquaplaning, resulting in his left-front hitting the barriers beneath the large grandstand before he came to a stop further down the track, prompting a red flag for the session.
After a delay of nearly 10 minutes, the session restarted, but with conditions remaining poor, the drivers stayed in the pits.
As the next 15 minutes passed without any cars venturing out and the rain continued to pour, race control decided to stop the session for a second time.
The medical car was dispatched to evaluate the conditions soon after the second red flag was raised, but the session resumed with only two minutes left to run.
In the final moments, a few drivers—including Carlos Sainz and Kevin Magnussen, who had not yet participated in the earlier session—took to the track on wet tires; however, there wasn’t enough time for them to complete a flying lap, so the initial order remained unchanged.
During his out-lap, Sainz lost grip and slid into the gravel at Turn 10, similar to Verstappen’s near-miss at the start of the session.
Following the top four, Esteban Ocon was in fifth position, ahead of Charles Leclerc, with Stroll, Valtteri Bottas, Lewis Hamilton, and Sergio Perez completing the top ten.
