Hamilton tops all three Japanese GP practices

Hamilton quickest again
Hamilton quickest again

The damp and windy conditions at Suzuka limited running in Free Practice 3, but when the track dried Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton was on top for the third time this weekend. But the session ended on a sour note for Nico Hulkenberg, with the Renault driver crashing heavily into the barriers and bringing out the red flags with three minutes to go…

The Briton clocked a 1m 29.599s on supersoft tires to finish one tenth up on Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, who was much closer to the Mercedes than on Friday.

Kimi Raikkonen was third, 0.455s back from Hamilton, with the sister Silver Arrow of Valtteri Bottas splitting the Red Bull pair of Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo. Verstappen had been left with much work to do during the 60-minute session after a frustrating Friday practice in which he was unhappy with his RB14's handling.

Practice 3 Results

POS NO DRIVER CAR TIME GAP LAPS
1 44 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:29.599 +0.000s 13
2 5 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:29.715 +0.116s 14
3 7 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:30.054 +0.455s 13
4 33 Max Verstappen Red Bull Renault 1:30.304 +0.705s 13
5 77 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1:30.422 +0.823s 13
6 3 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Renault 1:30.474 +0.875s 10
7 31 Esteban Ocon Force India Mercedes 1:31.088 +1.489s 12
8 11 Sergio Perez Force India Mercedes 1:31.483 +1.884s 12
9 55 Carlos Sainz Renault 1:31.513 +1.914s 14
10 20 Kevin Magnussen Haas Ferrari 1:31.521 +1.922s 13
11 8 Romain Grosjean Haas Ferrari 1:31.636 +2.037s 14
12 16 Charles Leclerc Sauber Ferrari 1:31.760 +2.161s 14
13 28 Brendon Hartley Toro Rosso Honda 1:32.030 +2.431s 13
14 18 Lance Stroll Williams Mercedes 1:32.201 +2.602s 14
15 27 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 1:32.224 +2.625s 12
16 9 Marcus Ericsson Sauber Ferrari 1:32.442 +2.843s 10
17 14 Fernando Alonso McLaren Renault 1:32.608 +3.009s 14
18 35 Sergey Sirotkin Williams Mercedes 1:32.631 +3.032s 14
19 2 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren Renault 1:33.034 +3.435s 13
20 10 Pierre Gasly Toro Rosso Honda 1:33.105 +3.506s 10