Leclerc leads Ferrari 1-2 as Hamilton crashes

Hamilton's wrecked car comes back on the flatbed
Hamilton's wrecked car comes back on the flatbed

Charles Leclerc again led a Ferrari 1-2 in final practice for the Belgium GP at Spa Saturday morning. Leclerc's lap of 1m44.206s was 4/10ths up on his teammate Sebastian Vettel who locked a wheel on his fast lap..

Valtteri Bottas almost matched Vettel's time in the sandbagging Mercedes to get 3rd while Daniel Ricciardo carried the Renault to 4th quick and Max Verstappen rounded out the top-5 for Red Bull but 1.1 secs back with Verstappen still complaining about the set up of his RB15.

Meanwhile Lewis Hamilton tried to match his Mercedes teammate's time but ran out of talent in Turn 12 and stuffed his #44 into the tire barrier. The team is scrambling to get a car ready for him in time for qualifying.

There is no word from Mercedes yet as to the level of damage sustained by Hamilton's car in that crash, with the team bustling around in the garage. They will be skipping lunch as they try to get the reigning world champion out in time for qualifying in a couple of hours' time.

It is a bit of a shame that Renault have grid penalties here, as that car is looking quicker over one lap than it has of late and the idea of Ricciardo slugging it out towards the front of the field is one everyone would have loved to see.

Alexander Albon has to start at the back of the grid so he focused solely on race setups.

Practice 3 Results

POS NO DRIVER CAR TIME GAP LAPS
1 16 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:44.206 +0.000s 9
2 5 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:44.657 +0.451s 12
3 77 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1:44.703 +0.497s 11
4 3 Daniel Ricciardo Renault 1:44.974 +0.768s 10
5 33 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing Honda 1:45.312 +1.106s 11
6 11 Sergio Perez Racing Point Bwt Mercedes 1:45.521 +1.315s 12
7 44 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:45.566 +1.360s 4
8 7 Kimi Raikkonen Alfa Romeo Racing Ferrari 1:45.659 +1.453s 13
9 99 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo Racing Ferrari 1:45.688 +1.482s 13
10 10 Pierre Gasly Scuderia Toro Rosso Honda 1:45.752 +1.546s 15
11 8 Romain Grosjean Haas Ferrari 1:45.806 +1.600s 15
12 27 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 1:45.855 +1.649s 11
13 20 Kevin Magnussen Haas Ferrari 1:46.004 +1.798s 15
14 55 Carlos Sainz Jr. McLaren Renault 1:46.017 +1.811s 14
15 4 Lando Norris McLaren Renault 1:46.270 +2.064s 13
16 18 Lance Stroll Racing Point Bwt Mercedes 1:46.379 +2.173s 11
17 26 Daniil Kvyat Scuderia Toro Rosso Honda 1:46.642 +2.436s 13
18 63 George Russell Williams Mercedes 1:47.858 +3.652s 14
19 88 Robert Kubica Williams Mercedes 1:48.350 +4.144s 14
20 23 Alexander Albon Red Bull Racing Honda 1:50.681 +6.475s 14