Mercedes completed a clean sweep of all three practice sessions as Lewis Hamilton set the quickest time ahead of qualifying on Saturday morning.
Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas concentrated their efforts throughout the session on the fragile soft tyres. Hamilton posted a best lap of 1’26.621 which left him a tenth of a second ahead of his team mate.Max Verstappen, who also exclusively used the soft tyres, was frustrated by traffic on his last flying run, which confined him to seventh-fastest. Lando Norris, however, used his only run on anything other than the soft tyres so far this weekend to set the third-quickest time. His lap on mediums left him half a second shy of Hamilton.
There was almost nothing to choose between the Racing Point pair. Nico Hulkenberg was fourth fastest as he continued to acclimatise to the RP20 in his second weekend with the team. Lance Stroll was just seven-thousandths of a second slower, the pair having both used softs.
Ferrari were the only team to sample all three tyre compounds during the session. Charles Leclerc took sixth, but Sebastian Vettel continued to labour down in 13th, the pair having both taken new power units since yesterday.
Alexander Albon was within two hundredths of a second of Verstappen, while Esteban Ocon completed the top 10.
Aside from McLaren and Ferrari, Haas were the only team to run a tyre other than the soft, giving Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen a chance to sample the hard rubber.
With track temperature reaching 40C in another warm session, none of the drivers improved their best lap times from second practice.
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Pos. | No. | Driver | Car | Best lap | Gap | Laps |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’26.621 | 15 | |
2 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1’26.784 | 0.163 | 16 |
3 | 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren-Renault | 1’27.202 | 0.581 | 20 |
4 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | Racing Point-Mercedes | 1’27.256 | 0.635 | 16 |
5 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Racing Point-Mercedes | 1’27.263 | 0.642 | 15 |
6 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1’27.328 | 0.707 | 18 |
7 | 33 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull-Honda | 1’27.455 | 0.834 | 12 |
8 | 23 | Alexander Albon | Red Bull-Honda | 1’27.474 | 0.853 | 15 |
9 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | Renault | 1’27.496 | 0.875 | 15 |
10 | 55 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | McLaren-Renault | 1’27.627 | 1.006 | 22 |
11 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri-Honda | 1’27.659 | 1.038 | 15 |
12 | 26 | Daniil Kvyat | AlphaTauri-Honda | 1’27.754 | 1.133 | 18 |
13 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1’27.811 | 1.190 | 20 |
14 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Renault | 1’27.815 | 1.194 | 12 |
15 | 8 | Romain Grosjean | Haas-Ferrari | 1’28.076 | 1.455 | 15 |
16 | 6 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams-Mercedes | 1’28.125 | 1.504 | 14 |
17 | 63 | George Russell | Williams-Mercedes | 1’28.349 | 1.728 | 17 |
18 | 99 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 1’28.468 | 1.847 | 13 |
19 | 7 | Kimi Raikkonen | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 1’28.538 | 1.917 | 12 |
20 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas-Ferrari | 1’28.763 | 2.142 | 16 |
Third practice visual gaps
Lewis Hamilton – 1’26.621
+0.163 Valtteri Bottas – 1’26.784
+0.581 Lando Norris – 1’27.202
+0.635 Nico Hulkenberg – 1’27.256
+0.642 Lance Stroll – 1’27.263
+0.707 Charles Leclerc – 1’27.328
+0.834 Max Verstappen – 1’27.455
+0.853 Alexander Albon – 1’27.474
+0.875 Esteban Ocon – 1’27.496
+1.006 Carlos Sainz Jnr – 1’27.627
+1.038 Pierre Gasly – 1’27.659
+1.133 Daniil Kvyat – 1’27.754
+1.190 Sebastian Vettel – 1’27.811
+1.194 Daniel Ricciardo – 1’27.815
+1.455 Romain Grosjean – 1’28.076
+1.504 Nicholas Latifi – 1’28.125
+1.728 George Russell – 1’28.349
+1.847 Antonio Giovinazzi – 1’28.468
+1.917 Kimi Raikkonen – 1’28.538
+2.142 Kevin Magnussen – 1’28.763
Drivers more then ten seconds off the pace omitted.
Pos | Driver | Car | FP1 | FP2 | FP3 | Fri/Sat diff | Total laps |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’26.304 | 1’25.606 | 1’26.621 | +1.015 | 59 |
2 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1’26.166 | 1’25.782 | 1’26.784 | +1.002 | 58 |
3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Renault | 1’28.511 | 1’26.421 | 1’27.815 | +1.394 | 63 |
4 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull-Honda | 1’26.893 | 1’26.437 | 1’27.455 | +1.018 | 50 |
5 | Lance Stroll | Racing Point-Mercedes | 1’27.539 | 1’26.501 | 1’27.263 | +0.762 | 64 |
6 | Nico Hulkenberg | Racing Point-Mercedes | 1’26.942 | 1’26.746 | 1’27.256 | +0.51 | 66 |
7 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1’27.062 | 1’26.812 | 1’27.328 | +0.516 | 69 |
8 | Lando Norris | McLaren-Renault | 1’27.846 | 1’26.867 | 1’27.202 | +0.335 | 71 |
9 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | McLaren-Renault | 1’28.138 | 1’26.918 | 1’27.627 | +0.709 | 73 |
10 | Esteban Ocon | Renault | 1’27.701 | 1’26.928 | 1’27.496 | +0.568 | 62 |
11 | Alexander Albon | Red Bull-Honda | 1’27.280 | 1’26.960 | 1’27.474 | +0.514 | 61 |
12 | Daniil Kvyat | AlphaTauri-Honda | 1’27.653 | 1’27.002 | 1’27.754 | +0.752 | 77 |
13 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri-Honda | 1’27.707 | 1’27.128 | 1’27.659 | +0.531 | 69 |
14 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1’27.498 | 1’27.198 | 1’27.811 | +0.613 | 70 |
15 | Romain Grosjean | Haas-Ferrari | 1’27.908 | 1’27.294 | 1’28.076 | +0.782 | 68 |
16 | George Russell | Williams-Mercedes | 1’28.170 | 1’27.320 | 1’28.349 | +1.029 | 71 |
17 | Kimi Raikkonen | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 1’28.655 | 1’27.535 | 1’28.538 | +1.003 | 65 |
18 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas-Ferrari | 1’29.319 | 1’27.582 | 1’28.763 | +1.181 | 61 |
19 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams-Mercedes | 1’28.226 | 1’27.683 | 1’28.125 | +0.442 | 69 |
20 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 1’27.955 | 1’28.468 | +0.513 | 39 | |
21 | Robert Kubica | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 1’28.960 | 22 |
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2020 70th Anniversary Grand Prix
- 2020 70th Anniversary Grand Prix Star Performers
- Williams expect to compete for points “on merit” soon
- Wolff “happy to go to court” as Horner calls for FIA to examine Mercedes’ role in Racing Point case
- Albon eager to understand how his “amazing” Red Bull improved
- Verstappen at his irrepressible best as tyres trip Mercedes
Adam (@rocketpanda)
8th August 2020, 12:23
So the interesting part of qualifying and the race will stay 3rd downwards then?
S
8th August 2020, 12:28
The interesting part of this GP is the battle off the track.
ian dearing
8th August 2020, 12:53
Glad someones noticed. The cry has been get rid of the Mercs to make the show more interesting, but instead of two close at the front at least fighting it out in qualifying and the occasional race, we would have one driver clearly on his own in qualifying and the race. Max is a lock in for third, and at least given the right circumstances; rain, etc. we know he is capable of fighting those at the front.
Adam (@rocketpanda)
8th August 2020, 12:57
I kinda get the feeling Red Bull are starting to slide backwards towards the midfield more than they’re moving forwards to Mercedes. Barring any unforseen circumstances, it’s a Merc 1-2, such is their advantage. It’s a shame though in many ways as everyone else behind them seem quite bunched up.
Esploratore (@esploratore)
9th August 2020, 5:35
Yes, like I said on another page, I think there’d be more competition without mercedes, at this point force india is closer to red bull than red bull is to merc. Ferrari also is at times competitive, even this year.
Esploratore (@esploratore)
9th August 2020, 5:36
And so is mclaren, however they and ferrari aren’t as consistent as red bull and force india; renault also improved this year.