Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, Silverstone, 2019

Leclerc pips Vettel and Hamilton in tight final practice

2019 British Grand Prix third practice

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Charles Leclerc narrowly beat his team mate to the quickest time as Ferrari held sway in the final practice session for the British Grand Prix.

Leclerc edges Sebastian Vettel by just 0.026 seconds at the end of the final hour of running.

Lewis Hamilton had to settle for third place but was very close behind the two Ferraris. The trio were separated by less than five-hundredths of a second. “The car’s not got a lot more to give,” said Hamilton moments before he chipped a tenth of a second off his best time with his final run.

Valtteri Bottas was further behind in the second Mercedes following a near-miss with Daniil Kvyat at the exit of Luffield. The Toro Rosso driver squeezed him onto the inside kerb at Woodcote where the track was still damp, the Mercedes sending a shower of spray into the air.

The Red Bull pair separated the Mercedes drivers, Pierre Gasly the quicker of the pair for the third session in a row at Silverstone.

Lando Norris took seventh for McLaren ahead of the two Renault drivers and Alexander Albon. Carlos Sainz Jnr raised the ire of Kevin Magnussen, who was held up by the McLaren driver at Luffield.

Few drivers ventured out of the pits during the first half-hour as light rain fell soon after the session began. A handful of drivers explored the conditions with intermediate tyres, including the Mercedes pair and Daniel Ricciardo, but as the shower passed over the track soon dried out.

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Pos.No.DriverCarBest lapGapLaps
116Charles LeclercFerrari1’25.90517
25Sebastian VettelFerrari1’25.9310.02616
344Lewis HamiltonMercedes1’25.9540.04921
410Pierre GaslyRed Bull-Honda1’26.1180.21315
533Max VerstappenRed Bull-Honda1’26.4400.53514
677Valtteri BottasMercedes1’26.4560.55120
74Lando NorrisMcLaren-Renault1’26.6890.78415
827Nico HulkenbergRenault1’26.9451.04016
93Daniel RicciardoRenault1’26.9651.06015
1023Alexander AlbonToro Rosso-Honda1’26.9761.07117
1199Antonio GiovinazziAlfa Romeo-Ferrari1’27.0361.13116
1255Carlos Sainz JnrMcLaren-Renault1’27.1061.20115
1326Daniil KvyatToro Rosso-Honda1’27.1081.20318
148Romain GrosjeanHaas-Ferrari1’27.1101.20516
1520Kevin MagnussenHaas-Ferrari1’27.2751.37016
167Kimi RaikkonenAlfa Romeo-Ferrari1’27.4241.51915
1718Lance StrollRacing Point-Mercedes1’27.5441.63914
1811Sergio PerezRacing Point-Mercedes1’27.5981.69312
1963George RussellWilliams-Mercedes1’29.0653.16022
2088Robert KubicaWilliams-Mercedes1’29.4503.54519

Third practice visual gaps

Charles Leclerc – 1’25.905

+0.026 Sebastian Vettel – 1’25.931

+0.049 Lewis Hamilton – 1’25.954

+0.213 Pierre Gasly – 1’26.118

+0.535 Max Verstappen – 1’26.440

+0.551 Valtteri Bottas – 1’26.456

+0.784 Lando Norris – 1’26.689

+1.040 Nico Hulkenberg – 1’26.945

+1.060 Daniel Ricciardo – 1’26.965

+1.071 Alexander Albon – 1’26.976

+1.131 Antonio Giovinazzi – 1’27.036

+1.201 Carlos Sainz Jnr – 1’27.106

+1.203 Daniil Kvyat – 1’27.108

+1.205 Romain Grosjean – 1’27.110

+1.370 Kevin Magnussen – 1’27.275

+1.519 Kimi Raikkonen – 1’27.424

+1.639 Lance Stroll – 1’27.544

+1.693 Sergio Perez – 1’27.598

+3.160 George Russell – 1’29.065

+3.545 Robert Kubica – 1’29.450

Drivers more then ten seconds off the pace omitted.

PosDriverCarFP1FP2FP3Fri/Sat diffTotal laps
1Charles LeclercFerrari1’28.2531’26.9291’25.905-1.02467
2Sebastian VettelFerrari1’28.3041’27.1801’25.931-1.24966
3Lewis HamiltonMercedes1’28.1221’26.8011’25.954-0.84781
4Pierre GaslyRed Bull-Honda1’27.1731’27.2491’26.118-1.05570
5Max VerstappenRed Bull-Honda1’28.0091’27.5621’26.440-1.12266
6Valtteri BottasMercedes1’27.6291’26.7321’26.456-0.27673
7Lando NorrisMcLaren-Renault1’29.1701’27.5461’26.689-0.85775
8Nico HulkenbergRenault1’28.8031’28.2171’26.945-1.27270
9Daniel RicciardoRenault1’29.0311’28.1281’26.965-1.16356
10Alexander AlbonToro Rosso-Honda1’29.0931’27.9971’26.976-1.02180
11Antonio GiovinazziAlfa Romeo-Ferrari1’30.0991’28.2941’27.036-1.25867
12Carlos Sainz JnrMcLaren-Renault1’29.1621’27.9871’27.106-0.88184
13Daniil KvyatToro Rosso-Honda1’29.5001’28.0081’27.108-0.979
14Romain GrosjeanHaas-Ferrari1’30.8111’28.7941’27.110-1.68463
15Kevin MagnussenHaas-Ferrari1’30.6051’28.0591’27.275-0.78469
16Kimi RaikkonenAlfa Romeo-Ferrari1’30.7471’28.1261’27.424-0.70259
17Lance StrollRacing Point-Mercedes1’29.6571’28.2401’27.544-0.69675
18Sergio PerezRacing Point-Mercedes1’29.4531’28.0021’27.598-0.40470
19George RussellWilliams-Mercedes1’30.7411’30.5141’29.065-1.44958
20Robert KubicaWilliams-Mercedes1’32.1211’29.9351’29.450-0.48582

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2019 British Grand Prix

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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11 comments on “Leclerc pips Vettel and Hamilton in tight final practice”

  1. I wonder if Frank Williams is enjoying the weekend? :(

    1. Didn’t they say they were bringing some updates for this weekend that were supposed to get them closer to the field? Or did I get that wrong?

  2. What how how what

    1. Lewis ran a load more laps on his soft runs, from the speedtrap they ran high power but also they ran long and so must have been heavier and surely missed the best of the tyre. vettel did his quickest on the 2nd lap. verstappen struggled.

  3. What was Leclerc doing there with Kvyat? What an idiot.

  4. So, are we in for an actual four-way fight for the pole?

  5. So Ferrari 1-2 qualifying after sorted out front tyre wear issue?

  6. LOL. This is FP3

    If it stays dry and they (Merc, Ferrari and perhaps RBR) don’t shave another second (or even more) off by the end of Qualifying it will be the biggest surprise of the season.

    1. the biggest surprise of the season

      That was last week.

      1. Really? Clear Mercedes would not suit the track or temps. Ferrari looking good until the qually tyre choice, and Max at ‘home’. Think the only surprise (which probably shouldn’t have been) was Honda being prepared to turn it up to 11 and risk the engine blowing.

    2. UPDATE after Qualifying: Normality restored, everyone improved:
      Mercedes – 0.9s
      RBR – 0.85s
      Ferrari – 0.75s

      FP3 times usually are broken in Qualifying, by some substantial margin. Today was not an exception.

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