Max Verstappen bounces back from Friday crash to dominate wet final practice

Max Verstappen at Spa — Photo: © LAT Images

Belgian Grand Prix

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Verstappen bounces back from Friday crash to dominate wet final practice

Verstappen was almost a second faster than team-mate Perez

Ewan Gale

Saturday 28 August 2021 13:02 Updated: 13:13

Max Verstappen bounced back from his crash on Friday afternoon to finish top in the wet in final practice for the Belgian Grand Prix.

Verstappen posted a time of one minute 56.924secs on intermediate tyres as the rain came and went at Spa-Francorchamps.

The Dutchman's time was good enough to finish 0.947secs ahead of Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez in second.

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Lewis Hamilton was third and a second down on his title rival after taking multiple excursions through the escape road at Les Combes.

Team-mate Valtteri Bottas, who topped FP1, finished 2.884secs down on Verstappen in 11th with a five-place grid penalty looming over the Finn ahead of qualifying.

Lando Norris finished fourth in the McLaren, two seconds faster than team-mate Daniel Ricciardo down in 13th but crucially both ahead of the two Ferraris, with Carlos Sainz managing 14th and Charles Leclerc 16th in his new chassis.

The British driver used a pair of soft tyres for a lap at the end of the session and almost crashed exiting the pit-lane.

Winner last time out Esteban Ocon was fifth as both Alpines reached the top 10 and Aston Martin finished sixth and eight with Lance Stroll again showing his wet weather prowess to beat Sebastian Vettel.

George Russell finished ninth in the Williams with the team's rival for eighth in the constructors' standings Alfa Romeo losing running as Kimi Raikkonen suffered from a suspected brake failure.