2021 Portugal GP, Ferrari third practice report: Charles P6, Carlos P7. Ferrari third practice report.

Red Bull and Mercedes resumed their tussle on Saturday at the Algarve circuit with Max Verstappen coming out on top in the third and final practice hour. In a session that seemed to be dominated by track limits being exceeded by the drivers, it was Verstappen who managed to put a clean lap together midway through the session after his first flying attempt saw him run wide.

After Friday’s blue skies, the clouds gathered over the Algarve circuit ahead ofFP3 for the Portuguese Grand Prix.

For Scuderia Ferrari the final practice session ahead of qualifying was less positive than the impressions from Friday. Charles Leclerc finished sixth, with a personal best lap time of 1:19.001, almost five tenths slower than Max Verstappen’s latest attempt, a 1:18.489. Carlos Sainz finished just behind his teammate (1:19.050) but both drivers encountered traffic problems during their last attempt at a fast lap and will be hoping to improve their times in the qualifying session scheduled to take place later this afternoon, despite the fact that for the Maranello team the signals look less encouraging than yesterday.

There was a brief Virtual Safety Car period twenty minutes into the session, due to a Pirelli board falling over at the side of the track. The track action was briefly neutralised to allow two marshals to go on track to retrieve it.

Full results from final practice at the Portuguese Grand Prix, Round 3 of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship.