Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, Hockenheimring, 2019

Leclerc keeps Ferrari ahead as Mercedes struggle

2019 German Grand Prix third practice

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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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2019 German 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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7 comments on “Leclerc keeps Ferrari ahead as Mercedes struggle”

  1. * Your comment contained an incorrectly positioned apostrophe and has been deleted by the stewards *

  2. 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.

    1. 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.

      This. I hate it already and I’m sure I’ll hate it more as the weekend progresses and we see more penalties.

  3. Expecting to see Toto and Lewis do rain dancs between sessions.

  4. 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?

  5. 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.

    1. If Mercedes underperforms this weekend it won’t help the sport one bit. The sport needs the other teams to catch up.

Comments are closed.