Lewis Hamilton topped final practice for the Spanish Grand Prix after the session was red flagged following a hefty crash for Brendon Hartley.
Hamilton’s 1’17.281 was just 0.013s faster than Mercedes team mate Valtteri Bottas, with the Ferraris of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen behind.
The session ended early after Brendon Hartley lost control of his Toro Rosso into the fast right hander of Turn Nine, spinning backwards into the wall and causing severe damage to the car. Hartley was able to climb out of the car unaided.Overcast skies over the Circuit de Catalunya meant track temperatures were slightly lower than on Friday.
But that didn’t seem to affect performance as Mercedes quickly picked up where they left off, with Valtteri Bottas first and then team mate Lewis Hamilton lowering the quickest times of the weekend so far on the Soft compound tyres.
Mercedes then opted for the Super Soft tyres and went even faster, with Hamilton setting a new track record with a 1’17.281 that was almost matched by his team mate.
Max Verstappen drew the attention of the stewards after the Red Bull driver took to the escape route at turn one but failed to stay to the left of a bollard as mandated by the FIA. He remains under investigation.
After beaching his Williams in the gravel at Turn Five yesterday, Lance Stroll had another excursion, this time into Turn Four. Thankfully for the Canadian, Stroll was able to recover back to the track.
Romain Grosjean had another off in the Haas after being caught out catching Sergey Sirotkin into Turn Two.
As teams prepared for their final qualifying simulation runs, the session was abruptly cut short when Brendon Hartley spun his Toro Rosso after running onto the grass before the entry of Turn Nine and crashing backwards into the tyre wall, causing severe damage to his car.
That left Hamilton and Mercedes fastest, with Ferrari, Daniel Ricciardo’s Red Bull and the two Haas of Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean behind.
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Third practice visual gaps
Lewis Hamilton – 1’17.281
+0.013 Valtteri Bottas – 1’17.294
+0.269 Sebastian Vettel – 1’17.550
+0.300 Kimi Raikkonen – 1’17.581
+0.700 Daniel Ricciardo – 1’17.981
+1.076 Kevin Magnussen – 1’18.357
+1.425 Romain Grosjean – 1’18.706
+1.502 Carlos Sainz Jnr – 1’18.783
+1.566 Fernando Alonso – 1’18.847
+1.605 Pierre Gasly – 1’18.886
+1.624 Nico Hulkenberg – 1’18.905
+1.732 Max Verstappen – 1’19.013
+1.840 Esteban Ocon – 1’19.121
+1.955 Stoffel Vandoorne – 1’19.236
+2.011 Charles Leclerc – 1’19.292
+2.095 Sergio Perez – 1’19.376
+2.147 Brendon Hartley – 1’19.428
+2.463 Marcus Ericsson – 1’19.744
+2.619 Lance Stroll – 1’19.900
+2.628 Sergey Sirotkin – 1’19.909
Drivers more then ten seconds off the pace omitted.
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Combined session times
| Pos | Driver | Car | FP1 | FP2 | FP3 | Fri/Sat diff | Total laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’18.997 | 1’18.259 | 1’17.281 | -0.978 | 76 |
| 2 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1’18.148 | 1’18.611 | 1’17.294 | -0.854 | 90 |
| 3 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1’19.098 | 1’18.585 | 1’17.550 | -1.035 | 74 |
| 4 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1’19.499 | 1’18.829 | 1’17.581 | -1.248 | 52 |
| 5 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull-TAG Heuer | 1’19.871 | 1’18.392 | 1’17.981 | -0.411 | 68 |
| 6 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas-Ferrari | 1’20.637 | 1’19.643 | 1’18.357 | -1.286 | 82 |
| 7 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull-TAG Heuer | 1’19.187 | 1’18.533 | 1’19.013 | +0.48 | 70 |
| 8 | Romain Grosjean | Haas-Ferrari | 1’19.906 | 1’19.579 | 1’18.706 | -0.873 | 64 |
| 9 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Renault | 1’21.053 | 1’20.672 | 1’18.783 | -1.889 | 75 |
| 10 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren-Renault | 1’19.858 | 1’20.035 | 1’18.847 | -1.011 | 75 |
| 11 | Pierre Gasly | Toro Rosso-Honda | 1’20.508 | 1’20.373 | 1’18.886 | -1.487 | 78 |
| 12 | Nico Hulkenberg | Renault | 1’21.159 | 1’20.183 | 1’18.905 | -1.278 | 85 |
| 13 | Esteban Ocon | Force India-Mercedes | 1’21.144 | 1’20.024 | 1’19.121 | -0.903 | 85 |
| 14 | Stoffel Vandoorne | McLaren-Renault | 1’20.083 | 1’19.722 | 1’19.236 | -0.486 | 77 |
| 15 | Charles Leclerc | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’20.665 | 1’20.514 | 1’19.292 | -1.222 | 71 |
| 16 | Sergio Perez | Force India-Mercedes | 1’20.924 | 1’19.962 | 1’19.376 | -0.586 | 81 |
| 17 | Brendon Hartley | Toro Rosso-Honda | 1’21.373 | 1’21.265 | 1’19.428 | -1.837 | 85 |
| 18 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’20.984 | 1’20.501 | 1’19.744 | -0.757 | 72 |
| 19 | Lance Stroll | Williams-Mercedes | 1’22.756 | 1’21.556 | 1’19.900 | -1.656 | 65 |
| 20 | Sergey Sirotkin | Williams-Mercedes | 1’22.060 | 1’19.909 | -2.151 | 49 | |
| 21 | Robert Kubica | Williams-Mercedes | 1’21.510 | 24 |
2018 Spanish Grand Prix
- 2018 Spanish Grand Prix Star Performers
- F1’s Spanish stars remain closely matched in fourth season as rivals
- Top ten pictures from the 2018 Spanish Grand Prix
- Commanding win puts Hamilton’s bid for a fifth title on track
- Sirotkin was in severe pain from “dangerous” seat problem
spoutnik (@spoutnik)
12th May 2018, 12:19
What a mighty time from Gasly! McLaren still too far, Q3 will be hard to reach as midfield looks very packed.
Phylyp (@phylyp)
12th May 2018, 12:55
@spoutnik – for two drivers who came into F1 around the same time and into the same car, Gasly does seem to be setting himself apart better. C4 commentators were speculating that Hartley’s crash was influenced by Hartley’s need to try and match/close the gap to Gasly’s time.
Pinak Ghosh (@pinakghosh)
12th May 2018, 13:12
Hartley is under pressure at Torro Rosso. Gasly has already delivered a good result and seems to have a bit more natural pace at hand.
spoutnik (@spoutnik)
12th May 2018, 15:14
@phylyp indeed, though having followed Gasly in gp2 he’s always been a very good qualifier. His racecraft was less but soo far he’s doing quite fine!
Jere (@jerejj)
12th May 2018, 12:21
Still, a tenth to go to beat the outright lap record of the current 2007-present layout of this circuit, which should easily be done during the upcoming qualifying session, though.
Pinak Ghosh (@pinakghosh)
12th May 2018, 12:27
So close at Mercedes. Kimi is really showing good pace this year. Red Bulls hopefully will be a bit closer in qualifying.
Phylyp (@phylyp)
12th May 2018, 12:54
@pinakghosh – oh, I think Red Bulls definitely have the race pace advantage. A good race start, or some good strategizing, and they will be well-poised for a good result tomorrow.