Leclerc edges ahead of Russell to stay top in FP3 ahead of Dutch GP qualifying

Charles Leclerc set the pace in the final F1 practice session ahead of qualifying for the Dutch Grand Prix.

The Ferrari driver's best attempt was just 0.066 faster than George Russell, while home favourite Max Verstappen was third quickest.

Leclerc was strongest in the middle sector, while Russell set the fastest final sector of the session. Sergio Perez set the fastest first sector despite struggling early on in the Red Bull.

He was first out on the Soft tyres, but was heard complaining about lack of car rotation over the team radio. The Mexican told his engineer: "The rear was quite a lot worse this time around, through the medium speed."

Ultimately he ended the session sixth fastest behind Ferrari's Carlos Sainz and Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton, who rounded out the top five.

Late attempts from Alpine's Fernando Alonso and Haas driver Mick Schumacher put them seventh and ninth quickest, while Sebastian Vettel split them in the Aston Martin as they showed strong pace around Zandvoort.

Gasly and Ricciardo struggle, as both Alfa's fail to improve

After losing out on track time yesterday, Pierre Gasly was still finding it difficult to extract a competitive time out of the Alpha Tauri.

He was heard telling the team over the radio: "There is something wrong, Turn 2 I almost crash, Turn's 8 and 7 I have literally no grip on the car."

The Frenchman ended the session by crashing into the 150m board after Turn 10, in what appears to be a tough weekend for the team so far.

Daniel Ricciardo also had a hard session, spending most of it running on the Medium tyre before doing a final attempt on the Soft that was only good enough for 17th fastest.

Meanwhile both Alfa Romeo's failed to improve on their times throughout the weekend, with Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu finishing 18th and 19th quickest ahead of Nicholas Latifi who rounded out the field.