FP3 Tag

Four-time British Grand Prix winner Lewis Hamilton went quickest in final practice at Silverstone, edging championship leader Sebastian Vettel by just three hundredths of a second in a session that ended with rain falling across the Northamptonshire circuit. In advance of the session race control reported that there was an 80% chance of rain across the 60 minutes of running and the risk of precipitation meant that unlike many FP3 sessions the front runners were on track early as they attempted to get last minute set-up work and quali simsRead More

Sebastian Vettel took over at top of the practice timesheets at the Red Bull Ring finishing just under three tenths of a second clear of chief title rival Lewis Hamilton who suffered a brake failure late in the session. The Ferrari driver set a best time of 1:05.092 with just under a quarter of an hour left in the session. The German had been on course to claim top spot but after setting two fastest first sectors he came across a slower Hamilton and lost time in the last partRead More

Valtteri Bottas set the quickest lap of final practice in Baku as both Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen hit trouble. Mercedes driver Bottas set a best time of 1:42.742 on supersoft tyres to edge our Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen by just 0.095s. Lewis Hamilton was third just over four tenths of a second behind his team-mate. In the opening half of the session Bottas was quickest on the soft tyres, with most others opting to run the supersoft throughout. The early runs left Bottas 0.395 clear of the supersoft-shod Raikkonen withRead More

After a Friday dominated by Mercedes, Ferrari fought back in final practice with Kimi Räikkönen heading a one-two for the Scuderia ahead of team-mate Sebastian Vettel. After leading the way during the medium-tyre shod opening half of the session with a time of 1:22.409, Raikkonen bolted on soft tyres shortly after the halfway point in the one-hour final practice session and immediately lowered the benchmark by more than two seconds, logging a best time of 1:21.214 that stood until the end of the session. He was quickly joined at theRead More

Ferrari maintained its advantage at the Sochi Autodrom with Sebastian Vettel topping the timesheet ahead of team-mate Kimi Räikkönen. Vettel finished the session three tenths of a second ahead of Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas. In Friday’s second practice session the quickest Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas was almost seven tenths adrift of Vettel’s pace on ultrasoft tyres and while the Finn close the gap to the four-time champion in the qualifying runs of this morning’s final practice session Mercedes still struggled to match Ferrari, with Bottas ending the session 0.337s behind Vettel.Read More

Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen set the quickest time of final practice in Bahrain, finishing a tenth of a second ahead of Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton. Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel was third. Verstappen’s running in yesterday’s second practice session was compromised when a T-wing broke off Valtteri Bottas’ Mercedes and damaged the floor of the Red Bull man’s car, but he recovered this morning to confirm the Milton Keynes competitiveness here with a best time of 1:32.1934, 0.110 up on Hamilton. Verstappen’s qualifying simulation wasn’t without its issues, however, as midway throughRead More

Sebastian Vettel edged team-mate Kimi Räikkonen to head a Ferrari one-two in a busy final practice session for the Chinese Grand Prix. Valtteri Bottas was third for Mercedes, almost four tenths of a second adrift of Vettel. Vettel’s best lap of 1:33.336 came 20 minutes from the end of the session and put him over a second clear of Räikkönen. The Finn then responded with a lap of 1:33.389, just 0.053 behind the German. Ferrari’s supersoft pace set a tough benchmark for Mercedes to beat and when the team’s driversRead More

Sebastian Vettel set the fastest ever lap of Albert Park to top the FP3 timesheet in Melbourne, ahead of Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton. The session ended early when Lance Stroll crashed out with ten minutes left on the clock. After a slow start to the weekend, Ferrari ramped up the pace in final practice, with Vettel and team-mate Kimi Räikkönen making the running from early on. The German set the early pace but with 25 minutes remaining Räikkönen vaulted to the top of the order. His run onRead More

Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel set the quickest time of final practice for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix finishing ahead of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and the second Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen as Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg slipped to fourth and fifth respectively. The title-contending Mercedes pair had comfortably topped both opening practice sessions but on a hot, sunny afternoon at the Yas Marina Circuit, both were eclipsed in final practice as Vettel finished 0.290s clear of Hamilton and almost four tenths ahead of Rosberg. Vettel was joined in beatingRead More

Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen set the fastest time of final practice for the Mexican Grand Prix, finishing nine hundredths of a second ahead of Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton, with Daniel Ricciardo third in the second Red Bull. In a messy final 10 minutes of the session traffic disrupted the qualifying simulations of a number of drivers but Verstappen found space enough to set a supersoft tyre time of 1:19.137 with eight minutes left on the clock. Ricciardo might have eclipsed that but the Australian hit heavy traffic in the finalRead More