FP3: Hamilton P1, Hartley OK after massive shunt

Editor

Saturday’s final practice at Silverstone may have belonged to Lewis Hamilton but it was Brendon Hartley who grabbed the headlines as he walked away from a heavy hit.

Saturday’s final practice got underway on a sun-drenched Silverstone circuit where the track temperature was up to 40’C thanks in part to the new asphalt.

Following his FP2 crash, Max Verstappen was quickly into the action on Saturday and clocked the day’s first lap time, a 1:50.5. It wasn’t a smooth start for the Dutchman who reported that he went to upshift only for his RB14 to downshift.

Ferrari and Red Bull led the early running with Kimi Raikkonen quickest ahead of Friday’s pace-setter, Sebastian Vettel. A 1:27.6 for the Finn.

The session was red flagged minutes later when Brendon Hartley suffered a big crash.

A suspension failure under braking at high-speed put him into the barrier but he walked away unscathed. His car was totalled and, as such, he is unlikely to contest qualifying.

Final practice resumed with 33 minutes on the clock with Mercedes entering the fray, second and fourth with Lewis Hamilton faster than Valtteri Bottas.

Hamilton’s second lap on the soft tyres put him quickest of all only to lose out to Raikkonen with a 1:26.815 for the Ferrari driver.

Hamilton came back with 1:26.722, 0.093s up on Raikkonen’s best.

Valtteri Bottas finished the session third quickest ahead of Sebastian Vettel, Max Verstappen, who put in a late burst of pace, and Daniel Ricciardo.

Charles Leclerc was seventh ahead of the two Haas’ of Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean.

Marcus Ericsson completed the top ten.

Saturday’s final practice saw the drivers forced to adhere to the track limits, at least at Turn 18 where a new sausage kerb was added on the outside as drivers regularly ran wide to get the better line on Friday.

Times
1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:26.722 14 laps
2 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 0.093s 13 laps
3 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 0.642s 16 laps
4 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1.129s 8 laps
5 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1.29s 21 laps
6 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull 1.296s 14 laps
7 Charles Leclerc Sauber 1.424s 17 laps
8 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1.696s 15 laps
9 Romain Grosjean Haas 1.832s 17 laps
10 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 2.092s 16 laps
11 Esteban Ocon Force India 2.195s 13 laps
12 Sergio Perez Force India 2.344s 14 laps
13 Fernando Alonso McLaren 2.348s 15 laps
14 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 2.372s 11 laps
15 Carlos Sainz Renault 2.411s 14 laps
16 Lance Stroll Williams 3.107s 12 laps
17 Sergey Sirotkin Williams 3.262s 16 laps
18 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren 3.282s 16 laps
19 Pierre Gasly Toro Rosso 3.328s 4 laps
20 Brendon Hartley Toro Rosso no time 3 laps

Brendon Hartley Lewis Hamilton

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