Max Verstappen finally showed the speed many were expecting as he went fastest in final practice at the Spanish Grand Prix.
As teams turned their attention to qualifying pace, the Red Bull driver posted a 1m17.835s to lead Lewis Hamilton by almost a quarter of a second.
The two Ferraris continue to show impressive speed as Charles Leclerc sat third and Carlos Sainz fourth just ahead of Valtteri Bottas in the second Mercedes.
Lando Norris survived a trip into the vast gravel trap at Barcelona’s new Turn 10 before moving up to sixth, with teammate Daniel Ricciardo looking more competitive in eighth as McLaren also showed a turn of speed after a subdued Friday.
Pierre Gasly was the meat in the papaya sandwich in seventh, while Kimi Raikkonen posted the quickest first sector of anyone in ninth for Alfa Romeo.
In what was another very tight session with just over a second covering the top 14 cars, Sergio Perez found himself back where he was on Friday afternoon in P10 in the Red Bull, 0.771s behind Verstappen.
The big losers in final practice were Alpine as Fernando Alonso was 11th and Esteban Ocon 13th after being well in the top six in the second session.
Yuki Tsunoda continues to lag behind AlphaTauri teammate Pierre Gasly in 12th, while Aston Martin also slumped down the field with Lance Stroll 14th and Sebastian Vettel 17th.
A lack of wind allowed George Russell to again show better speed for Williams in 15th, while Nicholas Latifi and the two Haas’ once again brought up the field.
So after a tricky Friday, Verstappen and Red Bull finally look like a combination that can challenge Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes in Catalunya.
Can the Dutchman extend the seven-time champion’s wait for his 100th pole for another two weeks? We’ll have to see in qualifying.
Full results from final practice can be seen below:
