Hamilton over Verstappen and Vettel in final practice

Hamilton quickest, but not by much
Hamilton quickest, but not by much

Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) pipped Max Verstappen (Red Bull) and Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari) by less than 1/10th sec to lead final practice for the Hungarian GP in Budapest.

Hamilton, Verstappen and Vettel seem to have nudged ahead of their respective team mates, but as for choosing between the three of them… Vettel has it nailed in the first sector, and Mercedes and Red Bull seem evenly matched through the later stages of the lap. Game on for qualifying!

Valtteri Bottas in the 2nd Mercedes and Charles Leclerc in the 2nd Ferrari rounded out the incident free session.

P3 was reduced to just 50 minutes necessitated after a significant amount of oil was dropped at Turn 4 by a dramatic engine failure in the preceding F2 support race.

It made for a hectic final practice, and one in which the track got quicker and quicker as the cars gradually cleared the cement dust left by the marshals’ clean-up operation.

Practice 3 Results

POS NO DRIVER CAR TIME GAP LAPS
1 44 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:16.084 +0.000s 21
2 33 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing Honda 1:16.097 +0.013s 16
3 5 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:16.166 +0.082s 18
4 77 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1:16.355 +0.271s 19
5 16 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:16.392 +0.308s 18
6 10 Pierre Gasly Red Bull Racing Honda 1:16.684 +0.600s 19
7 4 Lando Norris McLaren Renault 1:16.774 +0.690s 20
8 7 Kimi Raikkonen Alfa Romeo Racing Ferrari 1:17.216 +1.132s 22
9 55 Carlos Sainz McLaren Renault 1:17.217 +1.133s 23
10 20 Kevin Magnussen Haas Ferrari 1:17.230 +1.146s 17
11 8 Romain Grosjean Haas Ferrari 1:17.293 +1.209s 21
12 26 Daniil Kvyat Scuderia Toro Rosso Honda 1:17.432 +1.348s 21
13 27 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 1:17.667 +1.583s 19
14 11 Sergio Perez Racing Point BWT Mercedes 1:17.670 +1.586s 17
15 99 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo Racing Ferrari 1:17.929 +1.845s 22
16 3 Daniel Ricciardo Renault 1:17.962 +1.878s 19
17 23 Alexander Albon Scuderia Toro Rosso Honda 1:18.024 +1.940s 19
18 63 George Russell Williams Mercedes 1:18.072 +1.988s 23
19 18 Lance Stroll Racing Point BWT Mercedes 1:18.534 +2.450s 20
20 88 Robert Kubica Williams Mercedes 1:18.709 +2.625s 26