FP3: Verstappen claims practice hat-trick

Editor

Max Verstappen clinched a practice hat-trick in Montreal, beating the Ferraris on Saturday morning in a session that saw the top four separated by 0.107s.

With only an hour of play remaining before the all-important qualifying session, the drivers opted for a mix of the ultrasoft tyres and the hypersofts at the start of FP3.

Ferrari held the early 1-2 as Kimi Raikkonen on the hypersofts clocked a 1:12.359 before Sebastian Vettel bettered that with a 1:12.235.

Mercedes opted to run the ultrasofts to begin with, Lewis Hamilton third and Valtteri Bottas fourth.

Hamilton’s ultrasoft tyres mixed it up with the Ferrari’s hypers as the championship leader, chasing a seventh Canadian GP win this weekend, improved to second place. He was less than a tenth behind Vettel’s pink-tyre time.

Vettel and Raikkonen returned to the track with fresh hypersoft tyres and retook the top two spots with a 1:11.648 for the German and a 1:11.650 for his Finnish team-mate.

That, though, didn’t last long as Friday’s pace-setter Max Verstappen put in a hypersoft run to go quickest with a 1:11.599.

Vettel fell to second, 0.049s down, while Raikkonen was third, a further 0.002s off the pace.

Hamilton in fourth was 0.107s shy of Verstappen’s best.

Ricciardo finished fifth quickest ahead of Bottas, Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg while Romain Grosjean and Stoffel Vandoorne completed the top ten.

Vandoorne was in trouble early in the session as he locked up and went down an escape road. He needed to do an 7-point turn to work his way out.

Brendon Hartley also found the going tough as he suffered two offs in two laps as he struggled to slow his STR13.

Times
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:11.599
2 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 0.049s
3 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 0.051s
4 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 0.107s
5 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull 0.554s
6 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 0.656s
7 Sergio Perez Force India 1.304s
8 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 1.347s
9 Romain Grosjean Haas 1.415s
10 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren 1.435s
11 Esteban Ocon Force India 1.465s
12 Brendon Hartley Toro Rosso 1.477s
13 Fernando Alonso McLaren 1.626s
14 Carlos Sainz Renault 1.732s
15 Pierre Gasly Toro Rosso 1.735s
16 Charles Leclerc Sauber 1.853s
17 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1.889s
18 Sergey Sirotkin Williams 2.219s
19 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 2.326s
20 Lance Stroll Williams 2.369s