Hamilton tops 3rd Belgian GP Practice
Between rain drops and a final one-lap sprint for top time, Lewis Hamilton turned a 1m43.255s lap in his Mercedes to top the final practice session for the Belgian GP at Spa.
It was a chaotic last few moments, with times tumbling for anyone who was able to set a lap, and traffic ruining things for the others.
Backing up his teammate’s 2nd quick time on Friday, Esteban Ocon was 2nd quick for Renault.
Lando Norris was 3rd quick for McLaren while Alex Albon and Valtteri Bottas rounded out the top-5.
Bottas would have been 1st or 2nd but the Finn got all out of shape after a lock up into La Source, losing the rear over the curbs and using his rally skills to save the situation.
Sebastian Vettel set a time though – and it was only good enough for P20 and last. His teammate was not much better down in 17th. Traffic did not help them.
Boss Mattia Binotto has now officially taken Ferrari to the very bottom.
It is hard to know what to make of the leaderboard, with so many flying laps aborted in the final stages. But Ocon is looking fast here, and he’s gone well at this track in the past.
Practice 3 Results
POS | NO | DRIVER | CAR | TIME | GAP | LAPS |
1 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:43.255 | +0.000s | 9 |
2 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | Renault | 1:43.485 | +0.230s | 9 |
3 | 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren Renault | 1:43.641 | +0.386s | 12 |
4 | 23 | Alexander Albon | Red Bull Racing Honda | 1:43.731 | +0.476s | 13 |
5 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1:43.813 | +0.558s | 9 |
6 | 33 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull Racing Honda | 1:43.896 | +0.641s | 10 |
7 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Renault | 1:43.973 | +0.718s | 8 |
8 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Racing Point Mercedes | 1:43.988 | +0.733s | 12 |
9 | 55 | Carlos Sainz | McLaren Renault | 1:44.006 | +0.751s | 13 |
10 | 11 | Sergio Perez | Racing Point Mercedes | 1:44.180 | +0.925s | 12 |
11 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri Honda | 1:44.508 | +1.253s | 14 |
12 | 26 | Daniil Kvyat | AlphaTauri Honda | 1:44.543 | +1.288s | 14 |
13 | 6 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams Mercedes | 1:44.771 | +1.516s | 11 |
14 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas Ferrari | 1:44.841 | +1.586s | 10 |
15 | 8 | Romain Grosjean | Haas Ferrari | 1:44.844 | +1.589s | 16 |
16 | 7 | Kimi Raikkonen | Alfa Romeo Racing Ferrari | 1:44.932 | +1.677s | 11 |
17 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1:45.147 | +1.892s | 12 |
18 | 63 | George Russell | Williams Mercedes | 1:45.157 | +1.902s | 11 |
19 | 99 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo Racing Ferrari | 1:45.190 | +1.935s | 13 |
20 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1:45.420 | +2.165s | 12 |