Flying Leclerc edges Hamilton in final practice

2019 Singapore Grand Prix third practice

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Charles Leclerc put Ferrari on top ahead of qualifying for the Singapore Grand Prix, leading Lewis Hamilton by two-tenths of a second in final practice.

With his second run on soft tyres Leclerc produced a time of 1’38.192, the quickest seen so far this weekend. Hamilton, who ran the medium tyres at the beginning of the session and spun when he left the pits on softs, was only quicker than Leclerc through the middle sector of the lap.

Their team mates were six-tenths down on Leclerc’s mark in third and fourth place. The threat from Red Bull surprisingly failed to materialise, Alexander Albon the quicker of the two drivers, over a second off the pace. Max Verstappen failed to improve on his best time from yesterday and described his single flying lap as “really bad” after taking sixth place.

A quarter of Renault-powered cars completed the top 10. The two McLaren drivers led the Renault pair, Nico Hulkenberg again outpacing team mate Daniel Ricciardo.

Daniil Kvyat was unable to set a time after a substantial power unit failure ended his session. Team mate Pierre Gasly took 12th behind Lance Stroll.

Sergio Perez ran well in the updated Racing Point early in the session. However he then clipped the wall at turn 21, damaged his wheel and leaving debris on the track which forced the session to be stopped.

Williams continued to show some encouraging pace in George Russell’s hands. He set the 15th-fastest time, putting him ahead of Anton Giovinazzi’s Alfa Romeo and both Haas drivers.

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Pos.No.DriverCarBest lapGapLaps
116Charles LeclercFerrari1’38.19215
244Lewis HamiltonMercedes1’38.3990.20715
35Sebastian VettelFerrari1’38.8110.61913
477Valtteri BottasMercedes1’38.8850.69316
523Alexander AlbonRed Bull-Honda1’39.2581.06614
633Max VerstappenRed Bull-Honda1’39.3661.1749
755Carlos Sainz JnrMcLaren-Renault1’39.5071.31514
84Lando NorrisMcLaren-Renault1’39.7091.51713
927Nico HulkenbergRenault1’40.1181.92615
103Daniel RicciardoRenault1’40.1531.96112
1118Lance StrollRacing Point-Mercedes1’40.2092.01711
1210Pierre GaslyToro Rosso-Honda1’40.3392.14715
137Kimi RaikkonenAlfa Romeo-Ferrari1’40.9532.76116
1411Sergio PerezRacing Point-Mercedes1’40.9852.7934
1563George RussellWilliams-Mercedes1’41.1562.96413
1699Antonio GiovinazziAlfa Romeo-Ferrari1’41.1692.97714
1720Kevin MagnussenHaas-Ferrari1’41.4943.30212
188Romain GrosjeanHaas-Ferrari1’41.5423.35012
1988Robert KubicaWilliams-Mercedes1’41.9543.76213
2026Daniil KvyatToro Rosso-Honda

Third practice visual gaps

Charles Leclerc – 1’38.192

+0.207 Lewis Hamilton – 1’38.399

+0.619 Sebastian Vettel – 1’38.811

+0.693 Valtteri Bottas – 1’38.885

+1.066 Alexander Albon – 1’39.258

+1.174 Max Verstappen – 1’39.366

+1.315 Carlos Sainz Jnr – 1’39.507

+1.517 Lando Norris – 1’39.709

+1.926 Nico Hulkenberg – 1’40.118

+1.961 Daniel Ricciardo – 1’40.153

+2.017 Lance Stroll – 1’40.209

+2.147 Pierre Gasly – 1’40.339

+2.761 Kimi Raikkonen – 1’40.953

+2.793 Sergio Perez – 1’40.985

+2.964 George Russell – 1’41.156

+2.977 Antonio Giovinazzi – 1’41.169

+3.302 Kevin Magnussen – 1’41.494

+3.350 Romain Grosjean – 1’41.542

+3.762 Robert Kubica – 1’41.954

Drivers more then ten seconds off the pace omitted.

PosDriverCarFP1FP2FP3Fri/Sat diffTotal laps
1Charles LeclercFerrari1’43.6181’40.0181’38.192-1.82657
2Lewis HamiltonMercedes1’40.9251’38.7731’38.399-0.37470
3Sebastian VettelFerrari1’40.4261’39.5911’38.811-0.7867
4Valtteri BottasMercedes1’41.3361’39.8941’38.885-1.00959
5Max VerstappenRed Bull-Honda1’40.2591’38.9571’39.366+0.40960
6Alexander AlbonRed Bull-Honda1’41.4671’39.9431’39.258-0.68568
7Carlos Sainz JnrMcLaren-Renault1’41.9661’40.1451’39.507-0.63867
8Lando NorrisMcLaren-Renault1’42.1801’40.3611’39.709-0.65267
9Nico HulkenbergRenault1’41.8121’40.3241’40.118-0.20671
10Daniel RicciardoRenault1’42.5271’40.8111’40.153-0.65862
11Lance StrollRacing Point-Mercedes1’42.7911’41.1281’40.209-0.91969
12Pierre GaslyToro Rosso-Honda1’42.3771’40.6371’40.339-0.29871
13Daniil KvyatToro Rosso-Honda1’42.3051’40.71361
14Sergio PerezRacing Point-Mercedes1’43.3691’40.8751’40.985+0.1156
15Kimi RaikkonenAlfa Romeo-Ferrari1’42.7861’41.2321’40.953-0.27957
16Antonio GiovinazziAlfa Romeo-Ferrari1’42.6771’41.1281’41.169+0.04164
17George RussellWilliams-Mercedes1’43.9931’41.4451’41.156-0.28977
18Romain GrosjeanHaas-Ferrari1’42.6301’41.3921’41.542+0.1561
19Kevin MagnussenHaas-Ferrari1’43.1501’41.5641’41.494-0.0764
20Robert KubicaWilliams-Mercedes1’43.3361’42.1771’41.954-0.22375

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2019 Singapore 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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8 comments on “Flying Leclerc edges Hamilton in final practice”

  1. This season is getting juicy.

  2. Go go go Ferrari party engine mode, show them extra horsepower benefits on Singapore track as well!

  3. Interesting

  4. Wasn’t Hamilton held up by traffic on his run? Didn’t get to see it, just heard. Impressed by Albon. Good job so far of learning this new track and competing against Verstappen, who was phenomenal here lasy tear.

    1. *last year (Lasy Tear sounds like a really bad indie pop group)

    2. @david-br
      He did have traffic on his first run and aborted it after turn 3.
      He might have gone quickest, but just slightly quicker than Charles.

      Hamilton should have this one in the bag in quali, but Charles has a good chance to get on the front row.

      1. @srga91 Thanks! I imagined they would have been close anyway. Impressive from Leclerc. This was supposed to be Seb Vettel’s track too.

  5. This is gonna be one boooooooring race.
    The field is all stretched out. And it’s singapore. Holy balls.

Comments are closed.