Valtteri Bottas led a close Mercedes one-two in the final practice session before qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix.
A lap of 1’15.437 put Bottas a mere four-hundredths of a second ahead of his team mate Lewis Hamilton.Under overcast skies and on a track surface made slippery by oil and cement dust from the morning’s Formula 3 race, the expected threat to the black cars from Red Bull failed to emerge in the final hour of running. This was despite the team breaking curfew overnight to work on the set-up of their RB16s.
Max Verstappen endured a difficult session: He spun, had gear sync problems and complained about understeer and traffic. He ended up sixth, six-tenths of a second off Bottas’s benchmark.
The gap between him and the Mercedes was filled by the Racing Point pair and, encouragingly for Ferrari, Charles Leclerc. Only Sergio Perez got closer to the Mercedes pair than the Ferrari driver, ending the session within two-tenths of a second of Bottas.
McLaren, AlphaTauri and Renault had a car each in the top 10, with Sebastian Vettel’s Ferrari in amongst them. Like Verstappen, Alexander Albon also encountered traffic in his Red Bull, costing him time through the quicker corners in the middle of the lap. He could only manage the 12th-quickest time, half a second shy of his team mate.
Williams can entertain hopes of getting at least one car into Q2 again as George Russell set the 14th-fastest time, leading the Ferrari customers and Daniil Kvyat’s AlphaTauri. Team mate Nicholas Latifi joined Verstappen in spinning at turn 12.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
Third practice visual gaps
Valtteri Bottas – 1’15.437
+0.042 Lewis Hamilton – 1’15.479
+0.161 Sergio Perez – 1’15.598
+0.344 Charles Leclerc – 1’15.781
+0.596 Lance Stroll – 1’16.033
+0.647 Max Verstappen – 1’16.084
+0.756 Lando Norris – 1’16.193
+0.914 Sebastian Vettel – 1’16.351
+1.016 Pierre Gasly – 1’16.453
+1.071 Daniel Ricciardo – 1’16.508
+1.108 Carlos Sainz Jnr – 1’16.545
+1.145 Alexander Albon – 1’16.582
+1.269 Esteban Ocon – 1’16.706
+1.410 George Russell – 1’16.847
+1.429 Romain Grosjean – 1’16.866
+1.649 Kevin Magnussen – 1’17.086
+1.855 Daniil Kvyat – 1’17.292
+2.059 Antonio Giovinazzi – 1’17.496
+2.090 Kimi Raikkonen – 1’17.527
+2.213 Nicholas Latifi – 1’17.650
Drivers more then ten seconds off the pace omitted.
| Pos | Driver | Car | FP1 | FP2 | FP3 | Fri/Sat diff | Total laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1’16.089 | 1’40.736 | 1’15.437 | -0.652 | 60 |
| 2 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’16.003 | 1’15.479 | -0.524 | 57 | |
| 3 | Sergio Perez | Racing Point-Mercedes | 1’16.530 | 1’42.470 | 1’15.598 | -0.932 | 41 |
| 4 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1’17.404 | 1’43.725 | 1’15.781 | -1.623 | 58 |
| 5 | Lance Stroll | Racing Point-Mercedes | 1’16.967 | 1’42.380 | 1’16.033 | -0.934 | 56 |
| 6 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull-Honda | 1’17.435 | 1’42.820 | 1’16.084 | -1.351 | 50 |
| 7 | Lando Norris | McLaren-Renault | 1’17.523 | 1’46.000 | 1’16.193 | -1.33 | 49 |
| 8 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1’17.238 | 1’40.464 | 1’16.351 | -0.887 | 56 |
| 9 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri-Honda | 1’42.588 | 1’16.453 | -26.135 | 27 | |
| 10 | Daniel Ricciardo | Renault | 1’17.200 | 1’16.508 | -0.692 | 43 | |
| 11 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | McLaren-Renault | 1’17.675 | 1’41.784 | 1’16.545 | -1.13 | 59 |
| 12 | Alexander Albon | Red Bull-Honda | 1’17.727 | 1’16.582 | -1.145 | 49 | |
| 13 | Esteban Ocon | Renault | 1’17.615 | 1’16.706 | -0.909 | 55 | |
| 14 | George Russell | Williams-Mercedes | 1’18.574 | 1’16.847 | -1.727 | 54 | |
| 15 | Romain Grosjean | Haas-Ferrari | 1’17.890 | 1’43.335 | 1’16.866 | -1.024 | 56 |
| 16 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas-Ferrari | 1’17.713 | 1’17.086 | -0.627 | 49 | |
| 17 | Daniil Kvyat | AlphaTauri-Honda | 1’18.292 | 1’47.422 | 1’17.292 | -1 | 57 |
| 18 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 1’18.425 | 1’44.411 | 1’17.496 | -0.929 | 59 |
| 19 | Kimi Raikkonen | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 1’43.471 | 1’17.527 | -25.944 | 41 | |
| 20 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams-Mercedes | 1’17.969 | 1’17.650 | -0.319 | 50 | |
| 21 | Robert Kubica | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 1’19.150 | 26 |
2020 F1 season
- Pictures: Wrecked chassis from Grosjean’s Bahrain fireball crash to go on display
- Bottas vs Rosberg: Hamilton’s Mercedes team mates compared after 78 races each
- F1 revenues fell by $877 million in Covid-struck 2020 season
- Hamilton and Mercedes finally announce new deal for 2021 season
- F1 audience figures “strong” in 2020 despite dip in television viewers
David
18th July 2020, 12:18
Here’s an optimistic thought… Mercedes’ behind the scenes deal to give RP their car design backfires, and Perez takes the title!
Ack
18th July 2020, 12:39
And hamilton throws his toys out of the pram and quits F1 with his car advantage gone. Also toto shows the middle finger to daimler and takes over Aston martin
Peter
18th July 2020, 12:25
Wonder if Stroll will be looking for a new seat shortly? It was okay when he could hide in the midfield, but if this is genuine pace from RP for the next few seasons they could possibly be losing a lot of points
Jeffrey (@jeffreyj)
18th July 2020, 12:45
Daddy Stroll owns the team though…
Bye, Bye Checo. Tnx again for saving all our jobs a year ago, by not collecting your debt! Bye, bye now!
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
18th July 2020, 12:31
Ferrari changed their rear and decreased the rake angle, seems to be giving them a less horrendous weekend than 2019’s. I’m still a bit worried to see that they are the only sizeable team without a merc style front end. Everyone knows just how quick merc is in Hungary yet RB might still be incapable of beating last years merc. I wonder if RB are looking for a change in the weather, otherwise, RP is just one of their opponents this weekend.
MacLeod (@macleod)
18th July 2020, 16:39
Strange part last year RB was the fastest car in the end so what did they do? Or did the rest improve their car much better?
Peter
18th July 2020, 12:49
Mmm but he now has other investors to answer to as well so let’s see. .