Ferrari completed a clean sweep of all three practice sessions for the German Grand Prix as Charles Leclerc headed the final hour of running before qualifying.
Leclerc consistently led the field throughout the session and set two laps quick enough to top the times. But Ferrari were denied a third consecutive one-two by Max Verstappen. The Red Bull driver split the two SF90s, lapping just a tenth of a second off Leclerc’s pace.Sebastian Vettel was one of several drivers to have a lap time deleted for running beyond the kerb at the exit of the final corner. However his quickest time, a 1’12.644, stood and put him third, a quarter of a second behind his team mate.
Lewis Hamilton had his quickest lap time deleted for the same reason, which dropped him from fourth in the overall classification to sixth. Valtteri Bottas led the way for Mercedes, but was over half a second off Leclerc.
This was an unexpected development. While the track temperatures fell as forecast, from over 50C to no more than 40C, this failed to produce the anticipated progress by Mercedes.
The two W10s were split by Kevin Magnussen. This will give Haas further food for though as Romain Grosjean had been significantly quicker yesterday in the team’s old-spec car, while Magnussen continues to drive the newer version. Grosjean, however, had an engine glitch towards the end of the session.
Carlos Sainz Jnr put his McLaren seventh ahead of Pierre Gasly. The Red Bull driver was in a new chassis following his crash yesetrday and had a wheel-banging run-in with Grosjean at the final corner. Grosjean ended the session 10th behind Kimi Raikkonen’s Alfa Romeo.
There was little sign Williams’ latest upgrade has moved them significantly closer to the pace. While the top 18 cars were covered by 1.4 seconds, the leading Williams of Robert Kubica was over three seconds off the pole position time. Kubica was also in a new chassis after a problem with his car was discovered overnight, while George Russell had to pit after floor damage was discovered on his FW42.
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| Pos. | No. | Driver | Car | Best lap | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1’12.380 | 18 | |
| 2 | 33 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull-Honda | 1’12.548 | 0.168 | 12 |
| 3 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1’12.644 | 0.264 | 18 |
| 4 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1’12.890 | 0.510 | 24 |
| 5 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas-Ferrari | 1’12.893 | 0.513 | 13 |
| 6 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’12.965 | 0.585 | 22 |
| 7 | 55 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | McLaren-Renault | 1’13.300 | 0.920 | 18 |
| 8 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | Red Bull-Honda | 1’13.324 | 0.944 | 17 |
| 9 | 7 | Kimi Raikkonen | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 1’13.351 | 0.971 | 18 |
| 10 | 8 | Romain Grosjean | Haas-Ferrari | 1’13.378 | 0.998 | 15 |
| 11 | 11 | Sergio Perez | Racing Point-Mercedes | 1’13.476 | 1.096 | 15 |
| 12 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | Renault | 1’13.496 | 1.116 | 19 |
| 13 | 23 | Alexander Albon | Toro Rosso-Honda | 1’13.554 | 1.174 | 24 |
| 14 | 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren-Renault | 1’13.556 | 1.176 | 15 |
| 15 | 99 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 1’13.671 | 1.291 | 16 |
| 16 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Racing Point-Mercedes | 1’13.672 | 1.292 | 15 |
| 17 | 26 | Daniil Kvyat | Toro Rosso-Honda | 1’13.767 | 1.387 | 21 |
| 18 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Renault | 1’13.816 | 1.436 | 20 |
| 19 | 88 | Robert Kubica | Williams-Mercedes | 1’15.540 | 3.160 | 20 |
| 20 | 63 | George Russell | Williams-Mercedes | 1’15.824 | 3.444 | 11 |
Third practice visual gaps
Charles Leclerc – 1’12.380
+0.168 Max Verstappen – 1’12.548
+0.264 Sebastian Vettel – 1’12.644
+0.510 Valtteri Bottas – 1’12.890
+0.513 Kevin Magnussen – 1’12.893
+0.585 Lewis Hamilton – 1’12.965
+0.920 Carlos Sainz Jnr – 1’13.300
+0.944 Pierre Gasly – 1’13.324
+0.971 Kimi Raikkonen – 1’13.351
+0.998 Romain Grosjean – 1’13.378
+1.096 Sergio Perez – 1’13.476
+1.116 Nico Hulkenberg – 1’13.496
+1.174 Alexander Albon – 1’13.554
+1.176 Lando Norris – 1’13.556
+1.291 Antonio Giovinazzi – 1’13.671
+1.292 Lance Stroll – 1’13.672
+1.387 Daniil Kvyat – 1’13.767
+1.436 Daniel Ricciardo – 1’13.816
+3.160 Robert Kubica – 1’15.540
+3.444 George Russell – 1’15.824
Drivers more then ten seconds off the pace omitted.
| Pos | Driver | Car | FP1 | FP2 | FP3 | Fri/Sat diff | Total laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1’14.268 | 1’13.449 | 1’12.380 | -1.069 | 76 |
| 2 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull-Honda | 1’14.330 | 1’14.133 | 1’12.548 | -1.585 | 63 |
| 3 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1’14.013 | 1’13.573 | 1’12.644 | -0.929 | 69 |
| 4 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1’14.660 | 1’14.111 | 1’12.890 | -1.221 | 82 |
| 5 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas-Ferrari | 1’15.759 | 1’15.470 | 1’12.893 | -2.577 | 68 |
| 6 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’14.315 | 1’13.595 | 1’12.965 | -0.63 | 84 |
| 7 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | McLaren-Renault | 1’15.062 | 1’14.662 | 1’13.300 | -1.362 | 82 |
| 8 | Pierre Gasly | Red Bull-Honda | 1’14.813 | 1’15.089 | 1’13.324 | -1.489 | 59 |
| 9 | Kimi Raikkonen | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 1’15.953 | 1’14.458 | 1’13.351 | -1.107 | 77 |
| 10 | Romain Grosjean | Haas-Ferrari | 1’15.074 | 1’14.179 | 1’13.378 | -0.801 | 78 |
| 11 | Sergio Perez | Racing Point-Mercedes | 1’15.604 | 1’14.518 | 1’13.476 | -1.042 | 69 |
| 12 | Nico Hulkenberg | Renault | 1’15.823 | 1’14.472 | 1’13.496 | -0.976 | 68 |
| 13 | Alexander Albon | Toro Rosso-Honda | 1’15.777 | 1’15.062 | 1’13.554 | -1.508 | 84 |
| 14 | Lando Norris | McLaren-Renault | 1’15.616 | 1’15.247 | 1’13.556 | -1.691 | 70 |
| 15 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 1’16.382 | 1’15.406 | 1’13.671 | -1.735 | 78 |
| 16 | Lance Stroll | Racing Point-Mercedes | 1’15.191 | 1’14.268 | 1’13.672 | -0.596 | 73 |
| 17 | Daniil Kvyat | Toro Rosso-Honda | 1’15.776 | 1’14.800 | 1’13.767 | -1.033 | 90 |
| 18 | Daniel Ricciardo | Renault | 1’15.567 | 1’15.010 | 1’13.816 | -1.194 | 76 |
| 19 | Robert Kubica | Williams-Mercedes | 1’16.559 | 1’16.980 | 1’15.540 | -1.019 | 73 |
| 20 | George Russell | Williams-Mercedes | 1’17.126 | 1’16.900 | 1’15.824 | -1.076 | 61 |
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Aussie Rod (@aussierod)
27th July 2019, 12:22
* Your comment contained an incorrectly positioned apostrophe and has been deleted by the stewards *
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
27th July 2019, 12:24
Immediately Croft is depressed, hard to watch f1 with Legard Crofty downing an interesting weekend amidst the biggest dominance in f1 history, fom will cook up something to ruin things.
I think it looks tight at the top, Max like last year, looks to be a good bet for his maiden pole. Mercedes still favourite. what where they doing is a good question. I wonder whether Mercedes were trying to run a compromised set-up for Sunday’s predicted conditions.
I don’t like the track limits ruling one bit. Don’t want the drivers to go 100% off track then don’t have the kerbing off track.
baasbas
27th July 2019, 13:07
This. I hate it already and I’m sure I’ll hate it more as the weekend progresses and we see more penalties.
Chaitanya
27th July 2019, 12:25
Expecting to see Toto and Lewis do rain dancs between sessions.
Harry (@harrydymond)
27th July 2019, 12:46
This should make for an excellent qualifying session with “best of the rest*” covered by just 0.5 seconds.
* excluding Williams of course :-( Cripes, their performance is just depressing! Are both drivers now using all the updates?
Txizzle (@txizzle)
27th July 2019, 12:51
A Haas outrunning a Mercedes? (checks if he didn’t have a sunstroke after the hottest days in Dutch history). Wow. Will still be surprised to see such a thing happening in Q of course. Either way, for the sake of the sport I hope Merc maintaine not being on top this weekend.
koddamn (@gufdamm)
27th July 2019, 13:54
If Mercedes underperforms this weekend it won’t help the sport one bit. The sport needs the other teams to catch up.