Lewis Hamilton set the quickest time in the final practice session ahead of qualifying for the British Grand Prix.
The Mercedes driver set the fastest time of the weekend so far, lapping Silverstone in 1’26.722, just over a tenth of a second slower than his pole position lap at the circuit 12 months ago. However the Ferraris looked threatening as the track temperature rose to 44C. Kimi Raikkonen ended the session within a tenth of a second of Hamilton’s time.
Their team mates came next, though Valtteri Bottas was over six-tenths of a second slower than Hamilton. It was much closer between the Red Bull pair in fifth and sixth positions, Max Verstappen ahead by just six-thousandths of a second.The hour-long session was heavily disrupted after Brendon Hartley crashed heavily at Brooklands. The Toro Rosso suffered a major suspension failure at the front of the car which pitched him off the track and into the barrier.
Hartley was taken to the medical centre and the FIA subsequently announced he is fit to resume driving. However he is unlikely to have a car to drive in the upcoming qualifying session.
His team mate Pierre Gasly took no further part in the session as the team began investigating the cause of Hartley’s sudden failure.
Sauber’s Charles Leclerc led the midfield with a time just one-tenth of a second slower than the Red Bull drivers. The Haas pair were next, followed by the second Sauber of Marcus Ericsson.
Esteban Ocon, who went off at the high-speed Abbey corner earlier in the session, missed out on a place in the top 10 by a tenth of a second. The quickest McLaren was Fernando Alonso’s in 13th place, just two-hundredths of a second ahead of Nico Hulkenberg, the leading Renault driver.
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Third practice visual gaps
Lewis Hamilton – 1’26.722
+0.093 Kimi Raikkonen – 1’26.815
+0.642 Valtteri Bottas – 1’27.364
+1.129 Sebastian Vettel – 1’27.851
+1.290 Max Verstappen – 1’28.012
+1.296 Daniel Ricciardo – 1’28.018
+1.424 Charles Leclerc – 1’28.146
+1.696 Kevin Magnussen – 1’28.418
+1.832 Romain Grosjean – 1’28.554
+2.092 Marcus Ericsson – 1’28.814
+2.195 Esteban Ocon – 1’28.917
+2.344 Sergio Perez – 1’29.066
+2.348 Fernando Alonso – 1’29.070
+2.372 Nico Hulkenberg – 1’29.094
+2.411 Carlos Sainz Jnr – 1’29.133
+3.107 Lance Stroll – 1’29.829
+3.262 Sergey Sirotkin – 1’29.984
+3.282 Stoffel Vandoorne – 1’30.004
+3.328 Pierre Gasly – 1’30.050
Drivers more then ten seconds off the pace omitted.
| Pos | Driver | Car | FP1 | FP2 | FP3 | Fri/Sat diff | Total laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’27.487 | 1’27.739 | 1’26.722 | -0.765 | 71 |
| 2 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1’28.218 | 1’28.045 | 1’26.815 | -1.23 | 72 |
| 3 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1’27.854 | 1’27.909 | 1’27.364 | -0.49 | 73 |
| 4 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1’27.998 | 1’27.552 | 1’27.851 | +0.299 | 65 |
| 5 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull-TAG Heuer | 1’28.325 | 1’28.012 | -0.313 | 48 | |
| 6 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull-TAG Heuer | 1’28.144 | 1’28.408 | 1’28.018 | -0.126 | 76 |
| 7 | Charles Leclerc | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’30.027 | 1’29.557 | 1’28.146 | -1.411 | 75 |
| 8 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas-Ferrari | 1’30.065 | 1’29.617 | 1’28.418 | -1.199 | 69 |
| 9 | Romain Grosjean | Haas-Ferrari | 1’29.352 | 1’28.554 | -0.798 | 30 | |
| 10 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’29.942 | 1’30.046 | 1’28.814 | -1.128 | 74 |
| 11 | Esteban Ocon | Force India-Mercedes | 1’29.815 | 1’29.467 | 1’28.917 | -0.55 | 71 |
| 12 | Sergio Perez | Force India-Mercedes | 1’29.812 | 1’29.522 | 1’29.066 | -0.456 | 70 |
| 13 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren-Renault | 1’30.322 | 1’29.306 | 1’29.070 | -0.236 | 67 |
| 14 | Nico Hulkenberg | Renault | 1’30.701 | 1’29.354 | 1’29.094 | -0.26 | 65 |
| 15 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Renault | 1’30.358 | 1’29.563 | 1’29.133 | -0.43 | 73 |
| 16 | Lance Stroll | Williams-Mercedes | 1’29.878 | 1’30.069 | 1’29.829 | -0.049 | 72 |
| 17 | Pierre Gasly | Toro Rosso-Honda | 1’30.004 | 1’29.831 | 1’30.050 | +0.219 | 51 |
| 18 | Sergey Sirotkin | Williams-Mercedes | 1’31.017 | 1’30.103 | 1’29.984 | -0.119 | 75 |
| 19 | Stoffel Vandoorne | McLaren-Renault | 1’30.416 | 1’30.121 | 1’30.004 | -0.117 | 73 |
| 20 | Brendon Hartley | Toro Rosso-Honda | 1’30.749 | 1’30.404 | 69 |
2018 British Grand Prix
- Gasly told stewards he “enjoyed” pass which earned him penalty
- Williams not giving up on 2018 F1 car concept
- Did Grosjean’s crash spare Mercedes’ blushes? Six British GP strategy questions
- F1’s new Silverstone DRS zone not an “unnecessary danger” – FIA
- Renault has received a “wake-up call” from F1 rivals – Abiteboul
Jere (@jerejj)
7th July 2018, 12:14
Just beat the outright lap record already. BTW, The third crash of the weekend in as many sessions already.
Pratyush P (@pratyushp276)
7th July 2018, 12:14
Sauber’s heading the midfield already? Not bad.
Phylyp (@phylyp)
7th July 2018, 12:21
They’ve improved for sure, but I think this circuit is also flattering the Ferrari PU when compared to Sauber’s Renault-powered competition. @pratyushp276
ColdFly (@)
7th July 2018, 13:28
Leading the Haases though.
Improvement indeed at Sauber. McLaren should get done training from them.
Alonso (@alonshow)
7th July 2018, 13:43
@phylip: I know almost nothing about engines, so I didn’t know that was even possible. I understand that different chassis are faster in different races due to their aerodynamic configuration, but how does that work for PUs? I thought with PUs it was a simple case of “the most powerful one goes faster”, and that would apply to any circuit. Can you explain?
erikje
7th July 2018, 17:25
It, ‘s not only power but the way the power is delivered to the components. Every race they try to find a setting fitting with the circuit. A very elastic engine offers the best tuning options.
Phylyp (@phylyp)
7th July 2018, 12:22
What’s with Vettel, btw? After his initial runs, we didn’t see him on track at all, did we?
koddamn (@gufdamm)
7th July 2018, 12:31
You are correct, we didn’t. Apparently, according to @bosyber, he is suffering with neck problems.
Phylyp (@phylyp)
7th July 2018, 12:45
@gufdamm – many thanks, I wouldn’t have guessed that, if anything I’d have thought car issues :-)
bosyber (@bosyber)
7th July 2018, 13:32
Did Sky mention it by now too? As I said in the live session; I heard it via the F1 live app on my phone (which is, I think, bbc radio5?)
Euro Brun (@eurobrun)
7th July 2018, 13:04
Feel sorryfor Hartley. He can’t catch a break. Watching that suspension just buckle was bizarre.
Joao (@johnmilk)
7th July 2018, 13:24
That was quite scary, when the car started to role it made me very nervous, fortunately it deeped in the sand and Hartley emerged unscathed.
It reminded me of Buemi in China when he had the double suspension failure.
Do wr know if STR will participate on qualifying @keithcollantine?
bosyber (@bosyber)
7th July 2018, 13:34
We just heard that Gasly will, after they did work on the suspension @johnmilk
Joao (@johnmilk)
7th July 2018, 13:59
Thanks @bosyber
Michael (@freelittlebirds)
7th July 2018, 14:31
For US viewers, is anyone else upset that ESPN are airing the Qualifying live on a different channel for the British GP? They normally show it on one of their main ESPN channels and sometimes on one of the main network channels but today it’s on ESPN News. Even worse, their ESPN app is not letting me watch it or stream it either…
Apparently, this is an extra channel by ESPN but my Verizon package doesn’t include it – I have to upgrade to the Extreme or Ultimate to get that and I just can’t justify it for a few qualifying sessions. NBC would sometimes air programs on CNBC instead of MSNBC but at least it was part of the package.
Liberty Media and ESPN are busy putting the final nails on this sport and what a job they’re doing. I find myself watching all 3 races of MotoGP and fast forwarding through F1’s races.