Dutch GP: Pierre Gasly takes P1 as Logan Sargeant wrecks Williams in fiery crash

Pierre Gasly topped a final practice session of limited running at Zandvoort, after Logan Sargeant triggered an extensive delay.

Sargeant thankfully walked away unscathed from a fiery crash after dipping a wheel on the wet grass and slamming into the wall, with Gasly snatching P1 in a busy two-minute dash to end the session.

Dutch GP: Pierre Gasly on top as Logan Sargeant crashes hard

The rain had returned for the final practice session at Zandvoort, far from good news for Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, who managed only seven laps in the dry after a gearbox problem curtailed his FP2 running.

Nico Hulkenberg was another driver looking to make up for lost time, having crashed out of FP2 as handling issues plagued him in the Haas throughout Friday. It was no surprise to see him head straight out in FP3 on the full wets to get an early read.

Full wets were the compound of choice for the early runners, but Oscar Piastri showed what he could do with intermediates in his McLaren, setting a 1:24.176 as the benchmark. Unsurprisingly, that triggered a migration to the green-walled compound for rivals.

Key talking points from the Dutch Grand Prix

👉 Christian Horner clarifies Red Bull’s Liam Lawson position after Helmut Marko F1 2025 hint

👉 The IndyCar safety feature that Formula 1 should be scrambling to adopt

Caution was required though, as Hulkenberg soon found out. He was in the wars again and limped back to the pits with a shredded front wing, locking-up and going straight on and into the barriers at Turn 11 as his braking woes continued.

For good measure, the stewards noted Hulkenberg for potentially driving his car in an unsafe manner back to the pits.

Magnussen was also having troubles, a more conventional lock-up though into the Turn 1 run-off, while Fernando Alonso, now top of the timings, involuntarily took his Aston Martin for a trip through the gravel. Turn 1 was catching George Russell and Piastri out too in these very tricky conditions.

But a far bigger incident was to come as Logan Sargeant trashed his Williams, the American thankfully exiting that FW46 wreckage unscathed as flames and smoke erupted.

Sargeant dipped a wheel onto the rain-soaked grass coming out of Turn 3, sending him slamming sideways into the barriers and triggering the red flags.

The session had been set to resume with five minutes left on the FP3 clock, but that was pushed back to 12:28 local time, leaving just two minutes as the cars dashed out for a final, brief run.

Verstappen went on an overtaking mission out of the pit exit, clearing Piastri but putting the rear-left wheel over the line as he cleared Russell.

The wild final flurry of traffic dodging and lap setting resulted in Pierre Gasly topping FP3 from Magnussen and Valtteri Bottas, for quite the mixed-up top three.

FP3 times

1 Pierre Gasly Alpine 1:20.311
2 Kevin Magnussen Haas F1 Team +0.139
3 Valtteri Bottas Kick Sauber +0.844
4 Lando Norris McLaren +1.076
5 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin +1.150
6 Esteban Ocon Alpine +1.332
7 Oscar Piastri McLaren +1.539
8 Lance Stroll Aston Martin +1.630
9 Nico Hulkenberg Haas F1 Team +2.043
10 Carlos Sainz Ferrari +2.278
11 Guanyu Zhou Kick Sauber +2.929
12 Logan Sargeant Williams +2.976
13 George Russell Mercedes +3.647
14 Alexander Albon Williams +3.696
15 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +3.787
16 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +3.847
17 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing +4.049
18 Daniel Ricciardo RB +5.122
19 Yuki Tsunoda RB
20 Sergio Perez Red Bull Racing

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