De Vries OUT of FP3 as AlphaTauri PU change required

Sam Hall
Saturday 18 March 2023 13:45

Nyck de Vries will take no part in final practice for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

AlphaTauri has confirmed the Dutch F1 rookie's AT04 requires a power unit change after the team discovered an issue in the lead-up to FP3.

De Vries is the fifth driver to make changes to his power unit this weekend after Charles Leclerc, Carlos Sainz, Lando Norris and Sergio Perez all introduced new elements on Friday.

Of this number, only Leclerc has been handed a grid penalty.

This is as the Ferrari driver exceeded the prescribed limits for the season by adding a third control electronics unit.

All the other changes are within the limits.

De Vries finished Friday practice 17th, 1.318secs off the pace of table-topping Max Verstappen.

unfortunately, we’ve detected an issue on @nyckdevries’ car and we are now changing his PU.

as a result, he won’t be participating in FP3 pic.twitter.com/dJ8Rr7kvIs

— Scuderia AlphaTauri (@AlphaTauriF1) March 18, 2023