Formula 1 News: Russell tops rain-hit final British GP Practice

George Russell turned a lap of 1m37.529s on Intermediate Rain tires before the heavier rain hit to lead final practice for the 2024 British GP at Silverstone.

–by Mark Cipolloni–

Russell was 0.035s faster than his Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton with no one running qualifying sims due to the wet track.

McLaren’s Lando Norris, who was fastest in dry practice on Friday, was third fastest, 0.185s behind the similar Mercedes-powered car of Russell and that made it a British driver 1-2-3 to the thrill of the partisan British Crowd.

Carlos Sainz Jr. was 4th for Ferrari, 0.610s behind the leader.

Max Verstappen rounded out the top-5 for Red Bull just ahead of the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc. Verstappen still appears to be sandbagging because when the rain intensity increased he was easily the fastest on the track late in the session.

Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso was one of few drivers to improve in the closing stages to go eighth, edging out the other Red Bull of Sergio Perez, while Nico Hulkenberg kept his heavily-upgraded Haas in the top-10 places in the mixed conditions.

Williams pair Alex Albon and Logan Sargeant sandwiched the other Aston Martin of Lance Stroll in positions P11 to P13, with Yuki Tsunoda, Valtteri Bottas and Esteban Ocon leading the charge for their respective RB, Kick Sauber and Alpine teams.

Kevin Magnussen was next up in 17th, in front of Ricciardo, who is set for that trip to the stewards after the session, as Zhou Guanyu (Kick Sauber) and the sidelined Gasly – who will take an engine penalty this weekend – bringing up the rear.

Daniel Ricciardo will face the stewards following the final free practice session from the Silverstone Circuit on Saturday.

Replays showed the RB driver weaving in the pit lane as he drove towards his pit box during FP3.

The stewards have flagged Ricciardo for a potential breach of Article 33.4 of the sporting regulations.

It states that “at no time may a car be driven unnecessarily slowly, erratically or in a manner which could be deemed potentially dangerous to other drivers or any other person”.

Ricciardo enters the British Grand Prix weekend in strong form, scoring two top 10 results at the last three events.

2024 British GP Practice 3 Results