Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, Interlagos, 2018

Vettel leads Hamilton and breaks Interlagos track record

2018 Brazilian Grand Prix third practice

Posted on

| Written by

Sebastian Vettel set a new record lap time for the Interlagos circuit as he head Lewis Hamilton in the final practice session for the Brazilian Grand Prix.

The Ferrari driver set a best time of 1’07.948, over half a second faster than team mate Kimi Raikkonen, the pair separated by the two Mercedes driver. Vettel beat the previous record, set by Valtteri Bottas in qualifying last year, by almost four-tenths of a second.

Hamilton recovered from an early setback to record the second-fastest time, two-tenths of a second behind Vettel. He was confined to the garage early in the session with smoke coming from the back of his Mercedes, which was traced to a faulty fuel breather pipe.

The Red Bull pair were relegated to fifth and sixth places as expected, Max Verstappen two-tenths of a second off Raikkonen. The Haas pair were next, continuing their run at the front of the midfield pack this weekend.

Having switched to the current spec-three Honda power unit overnight, Pierre Gasly moved his Toro Rosso up to ninth place, though he was infuriated at being held up by Esteban Ocon at the end of the session. However team mate Brendon Hartley could only manage 16th, over half a second behind.

Charles Leclerc completed the top 10 for Sauber. For the first time this weekend Renault looked somewhere near competitive, Nico Hulkenberg missing out on a place in the top 10 by just 13 thousandths of a second.

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

Pos. No. Driver Car Best lap Gap Laps
1 5 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1’07.948 17
2 44 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1’08.165 0.217 15
3 77 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1’08.465 0.517 23
4 7 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1’08.490 0.542 17
5 33 Max Verstappen Red Bull-TAG Heuer 1’08.733 0.785 12
6 3 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull-TAG Heuer 1’08.788 0.840 12
7 20 Kevin Magnussen Haas-Ferrari 1’09.146 1.198 14
8 8 Romain Grosjean Haas-Ferrari 1’09.257 1.309 16
9 10 Pierre Gasly Toro Rosso-Honda 1’09.402 1.454 22
10 16 Charles Leclerc Sauber-Ferrari 1’09.448 1.500 21
11 27 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 1’09.461 1.513 19
12 31 Esteban Ocon Force India-Mercedes 1’09.588 1.640 18
13 9 Marcus Ericsson Sauber-Ferrari 1’09.808 1.860 23
14 55 Carlos Sainz Jnr Renault 1’09.864 1.916 17
15 35 Sergey Sirotkin Williams-Mercedes 1’09.885 1.937 14
16 28 Brendon Hartley Toro Rosso-Honda 1’09.985 2.037 18
17 18 Lance Stroll Williams-Mercedes 1’10.001 2.053 17
18 14 Fernando Alonso McLaren-Renault 1’10.020 2.072 15
19 11 Sergio Perez Force India-Mercedes 1’10.116 2.168 18
20 2 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren-Renault 1’10.289 2.341 16

Third practice visual gaps

Sebastian Vettel – 1’07.948

+0.217 Lewis Hamilton – 1’08.165

+0.517 Valtteri Bottas – 1’08.465

+0.542 Kimi Raikkonen – 1’08.490

+0.785 Max Verstappen – 1’08.733

+0.840 Daniel Ricciardo – 1’08.788

+1.198 Kevin Magnussen – 1’09.146

+1.309 Romain Grosjean – 1’09.257

+1.454 Pierre Gasly – 1’09.402

+1.500 Charles Leclerc – 1’09.448

+1.513 Nico Hulkenberg – 1’09.461

+1.640 Esteban Ocon – 1’09.588

+1.860 Marcus Ericsson – 1’09.808

+1.916 Carlos Sainz Jnr – 1’09.864

+1.937 Sergey Sirotkin – 1’09.885

+2.037 Brendon Hartley – 1’09.985

+2.053 Lance Stroll – 1’10.001

+2.072 Fernando Alonso – 1’10.020

+2.168 Sergio Perez – 1’10.116

+2.341 Stoffel Vandoorne – 1’10.289

Drivers more then ten seconds off the pace omitted.

Go ad-free for just £1 per month

>> Find out more and sign up

Combined practice times

Pos Driver Car FP1 FP2 FP3 Fri/Sat diff Total laps
1 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1’09.060 1’08.919 1’07.948 -0.971 79
2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1’09.107 1’08.849 1’08.165 -0.684 86
3 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1’09.679 1’08.846 1’08.465 -0.381 94
4 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1’09.573 1’09.412 1’08.490 -0.922 87
5 Max Verstappen Red Bull-TAG Heuer 1’09.011 1’09.339 1’08.733 -0.278 56
6 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull-TAG Heuer 1’09.395 1’09.164 1’08.788 -0.376 79
7 Kevin Magnussen Haas-Ferrari 1’10.236 1’10.007 1’09.146 -0.861 68
8 Romain Grosjean Haas-Ferrari 1’09.922 1’09.769 1’09.257 -0.512 88
9 Pierre Gasly Toro Rosso-Honda 1’10.934 1’10.330 1’09.402 -0.928 96
10 Charles Leclerc Sauber-Ferrari 1’10.346 1’09.943 1’09.448 -0.495 93
11 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 1’10.679 1’11.674 1’09.461 -1.218 59
12 Esteban Ocon Force India-Mercedes 1’10.361 1’10.159 1’09.588 -0.571 97
13 Marcus Ericsson Sauber-Ferrari 1’10.532 1’09.808 -0.724 67
14 Carlos Sainz Jnr Renault 1’10.662 1’10.458 1’09.864 -0.594 99
15 Sergey Sirotkin Williams-Mercedes 1’11.037 1’10.569 1’09.885 -0.684 90
16 Brendon Hartley Toro Rosso-Honda 1’11.176 1’10.734 1’09.985 -0.749 96
17 Lance Stroll Williams-Mercedes 1’10.799 1’10.662 1’10.001 -0.661 91
18 Fernando Alonso McLaren-Renault 1’10.332 1’10.020 -0.312 51
19 Sergio Perez Force India-Mercedes 1’10.320 1’10.116 -0.204 41
20 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren-Renault 1’11.452 1’10.596 1’10.289 -0.307 65
21 Antonio Giovinazzi Sauber-Ferrari 1’10.685 29
22 Lando Norris McLaren-Renault 1’11.013 28
23 Nicholas Latifi Force India-Mercedes 1’11.493 34

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

2018 Brazilian Grand Prix

Browse all 2018 Brazilian Grand Prix articles

Author information

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...

Got a potential story, tip or enquiry? Find out more about RaceFans and contact us here.

5 comments on “Vettel leads Hamilton and breaks Interlagos track record”

  1. Finally.

  2. How are we supposed to correlate the lap times without knowing the tyres ?

    1. @abdelilah TBH, it wouldn’t really matter even if the tyre compounds were shown as we still don’t know the fuel loads, or engine settings/maps, etc., anyway.

    2. I think everybody set their fastest time on SuperSofts.

  3. If Hamiltion is to pick up a grid penalty, shouldn’t he be thinking about what tires he starts the race on, whilst in q2?

Comments are closed.