Nico Rosberg was amazed by the lap that Max Verstappen managed to squeeze out during the third free practice. According to the former world champion, the Dutchman drove a perfect lap, seeing that the RB19 is on rails. The way in which the Red Bull driver puts the rest of the field, including his teammate, at a great disadvantage, makes a big impression on the German.
Rosberg was very impressed at Sky Sports with the lap that Verstappen managed to produce on the track in Jeddah during the third free practice. “The lap Max put there…phenomenal. So far ahead of Sergio Pérez, and then behind that everything is so close together. We see it now,” says the former F1 driver while looking at the images. “It was perfect down to the millimeter and the level of dedication, it was just perfection all round. The car didn’t move at all, not even an inch. He reacted as he expected.’
Also towards the last bend, the way in which the Dutchman attacks it is something that makes the mouth of the German drop open. “Here he brakes ultra late, everyone’s last braking point, almost at 75 meters, he hits the apex, runs the car wide and again the car doesn’t move. A tiny bit of understeer, but the car is just on rails. Phenomenal, what a lap’, he is clearly amazed by the lap the Red Bull driver managed to drive with his RB19 in the session prior to qualifying.
Verstappen dominates the field
Verstappen clocked the fastest time during the third free practice session with a 1.28.485, making him no less than six tenths faster than his teammate in second place. Behind it was only Fernando Alonso who could stay just within the second with two thousandths, after which everyone from Lance Stroll was more than a second behind the Dutchman. Ferrari is anything but a good impression, because with Charles Leclerc at 1.1 seconds and Carlos Sainz at almost 1.3, that gap seems too big to be able to do anything in qualifying.
