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