Mercedes driver George Russell started Saturday with a remarkable performance at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, recording the fastest time in the third free practice session of the Grand Prix. His time of 1:15.679 placed him ahead of Oscar Piastri and Charles Leclerc, establishing strong expectations for the qualifying session that will define the starting grid. Brazilian Gabriel Bortoleto, in turn, secured 11th place, showing potential among experienced competitors and the relevance of each thousandth for the final strategy.
Brazilian Gabriel Bortoleto’s performance in the final training session
The young Brazilian driver Gabriel Bortoleto started his participation in training using soft tires and came in second fastest in the first moments of the session. Despite being almost a second behind the early leader, he showed promising pace. Throughout the training, however, the evolution of the other competitors caused Bortoleto to lose positions, falling to tenth and, finally, ending his participation in 11th position on the time table.
Initial dynamics of the session and the first fast laps
The almost universal preference for soft tires marked the start of the third free practice, which started discreetly. In the first ten minutes, only three drivers had recorded times, with Valtteri Bottas initially standing out as the fastest. Subsequently, Nico Hülkenberg and Lando Norris overtook Bottas. Close to the middle of the session, Charles Leclerc came close to surpassing the current champion’s time, momentarily taking Bortoleto out of second place.
Russell takes the lead and interruption due to incident
In the final stage of the first half of training, Max Verstappen entered the track and set the third fastest time. Soon after, George Russell, who accompanied the four-time champion, managed to overtake Lando Norris and take the lead in the table. However, the session was abruptly interrupted after 25 minutes, when Valtteri Bottas left the track, crossing the gravel.
Return to the track and challenges at the end of training
The Finnish Cadillac driver reported that a brake failure was the cause of his incident at Turn 11, leading to the red flag. After the brief stoppage, the drivers’ positions on the timesheets remained stable. Only in the last ten minutes of training did Oscar Piastri manage to record the second best lap, while Charles Leclerc secured third position, intensifying the final dispute.
With the track traffic and the improvement in Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen’s times, Italian Antonelli’s performance was affected and fell to seventh position. The driver expressed dissatisfaction, claiming that four cars forced him to abort his crucial flying lap, a common scenario in busy practice sessions that directly impacts preparation for qualifying.
