Lewis Hamilton headed the final practice session for the Spanish Grand Prix which was brought to an early end after Esteban Ocon crashed while trying to avoid Kevin Magnussen.
Ocon caught the Haas driver at the exit of turn three. Magnussen had pulled off the racing line but appeared to slow in front of the Renault. Ocon took evasive action and spun nose-first into the wall on the inside of the corner, damaging his Renault.Ocon, who had been warned to look out for Magnussen ahead of him, told his team on the radio “Magnussen braked” in front of him. “I let past Magnussen because he was on a timed lap and he decelerated,” said Ocon. The incident occured with two minutes of the hour’s running remaining and the session was not restarted.
Prior to that the Mercedes pair stamped their authority on another practice session. Hamilton produced a best lap of 1’17.222 on the soft tyres to lead proceedings, just over a tenth of a second ahead of his team mate.
Max Verstappen led their rivals but was over half a second behind Hamilton. The Red Bull driver complained of a lack of power at the exit of the final corner but was reminded: “It’s not qualifying just yet, mate.”
Home driver Carlos Sainz Jnr was fourth-quickest after McLaren fitted a fresh engine to his car overnight. Sainz has been plagued by overheating problems in his MCL35 since the last race, and ended practice eight tenths of a second off the pace.
A little more than three-tenths of a second covered the remaining drivers in the top 10. As yesterday, they included a broad mix of cars: the Red Bull and McLaren were followed by Sergio Perez’s Racing Point, Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari (team mate Sebastian Vettel over half a second behind) and Pierre Gasly’s AlphaTauri.
Lance Stroll and Alexander Albon joined their team mates in the top 10. The Renault pair came next, Daniel Ricciardo ahead of Ocon, whose car will need extensive repair work before qualifying begins.
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2020 Spanish Grand Prix Third Practice classification
| Pos. | No. | Driver | Car | Best lap | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’17.222 | 12 | |
| 2 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1’17.373 | 0.151 | 13 |
| 3 | 33 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull-Honda | 1’17.737 | 0.515 | 10 |
| 4 | 55 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | McLaren-Renault | 1’18.046 | 0.824 | 18 |
| 5 | 11 | Sergio Perez | Racing Point-Mercedes | 1’18.096 | 0.874 | 16 |
| 6 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1’18.193 | 0.971 | 15 |
| 7 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri-Honda | 1’18.211 | 0.989 | 13 |
| 8 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Racing Point-Mercedes | 1’18.309 | 1.087 | 16 |
| 9 | 23 | Alexander Albon | Red Bull-Honda | 1’18.371 | 1.149 | 13 |
| 10 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Renault | 1’18.384 | 1.162 | 12 |
| 11 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | Renault | 1’18.602 | 1.380 | 18 |
| 12 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1’18.707 | 1.485 | 15 |
| 13 | 8 | Romain Grosjean | Haas-Ferrari | 1’18.710 | 1.488 | 14 |
| 14 | 7 | Kimi Raikkonen | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 1’18.721 | 1.499 | 11 |
| 15 | 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren-Renault | 1’18.803 | 1.581 | 23 |
| 16 | 26 | Daniil Kvyat | AlphaTauri-Honda | 1’18.852 | 1.630 | 15 |
| 17 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas-Ferrari | 1’18.940 | 1.718 | 15 |
| 18 | 99 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 1’19.175 | 1.953 | 13 |
| 19 | 63 | George Russell | Williams-Mercedes | 1’19.297 | 2.075 | 16 |
| 20 | 6 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams-Mercedes | 1’19.764 | 2.542 | 16 |
Third practice visual gaps
Lewis Hamilton – 1’17.222
+0.151 Valtteri Bottas – 1’17.373
+0.515 Max Verstappen – 1’17.737
+0.824 Carlos Sainz Jnr – 1’18.046
+0.874 Sergio Perez – 1’18.096
+0.971 Charles Leclerc – 1’18.193
+0.989 Pierre Gasly – 1’18.211
+1.087 Lance Stroll – 1’18.309
+1.149 Alexander Albon – 1’18.371
+1.162 Daniel Ricciardo – 1’18.384
+1.380 Esteban Ocon – 1’18.602
+1.485 Sebastian Vettel – 1’18.707
+1.488 Romain Grosjean – 1’18.710
+1.499 Kimi Raikkonen – 1’18.721
+1.581 Lando Norris – 1’18.803
+1.630 Daniil Kvyat – 1’18.852
+1.718 Kevin Magnussen – 1’18.940
+1.953 Antonio Giovinazzi – 1’19.175
+2.075 George Russell – 1’19.297
+2.542 Nicholas Latifi – 1’19.764
Drivers more then ten seconds off the pace omitted.
| Pos | Driver | Car | FP1 | FP2 | FP3 | Fri/Sat diff | Total laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1’16.785 | 1’17.170 | 1’17.373 | +0.588 | 84 |
| 2 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’16.824 | 1’16.883 | 1’17.222 | +0.398 | 78 |
| 3 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull-Honda | 1’17.724 | 1’17.704 | 1’17.737 | +0.033 | 69 |
| 4 | Daniel Ricciardo | Renault | 1’19.230 | 1’17.868 | 1’18.384 | +0.516 | 77 |
| 5 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1’17.970 | 1’18.147 | 1’18.193 | +0.223 | 77 |
| 6 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1’17.981 | 1’18.404 | 1’18.707 | +0.726 | 78 |
| 7 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | McLaren-Renault | 1’18.733 | 1’18.214 | 1’18.046 | -0.168 | 84 |
| 8 | Sergio Perez | Racing Point-Mercedes | 1’18.471 | 1’18.293 | 1’18.096 | -0.197 | 86 |
| 9 | Romain Grosjean | Haas-Ferrari | 1’18.291 | 1’18.133 | 1’18.710 | +0.577 | 72 |
| 10 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri-Honda | 1’18.888 | 1’18.312 | 1’18.211 | -0.101 | 79 |
| 11 | Esteban Ocon | Renault | 1’18.736 | 1’18.303 | 1’18.602 | +0.299 | 89 |
| 12 | Lance Stroll | Racing Point-Mercedes | 1’18.643 | 1’18.357 | 1’18.309 | -0.048 | 86 |
| 13 | Alexander Albon | Red Bull-Honda | 1’18.606 | 1’18.491 | 1’18.371 | -0.12 | 75 |
| 14 | Lando Norris | McLaren-Renault | 1’18.744 | 1’18.506 | 1’18.803 | +0.297 | 93 |
| 15 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas-Ferrari | 1’18.620 | 1’18.761 | 1’18.940 | +0.32 | 79 |
| 16 | Daniil Kvyat | AlphaTauri-Honda | 1’19.145 | 1’18.642 | 1’18.852 | +0.21 | 75 |
| 17 | Kimi Raikkonen | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 1’18.981 | 1’18.900 | 1’18.721 | -0.179 | 77 |
| 18 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 1’18.917 | 1’18.964 | 1’19.175 | +0.258 | 77 |
| 19 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams-Mercedes | 1’20.334 | 1’19.155 | 1’19.764 | +0.609 | 78 |
| 20 | George Russell | Williams-Mercedes | 1’19.391 | 1’19.297 | -0.094 | 54 | |
| 21 | Roy Nissany | Williams-Mercedes | 1’20.664 | 25 |
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2020 Spanish Grand Prix
- 2020 Spanish Grand Prix Star Performers
- Hamilton’s record podium, Raikkonen’s record mileage
- F1 teams welcome ban on testing at new tracks for 2020
- Perez felt fit enough to return earlier – Szafnauer
- Bottas describes his season as “pretty bad” since the first race
Jere (@jerejj)
15th August 2020, 12:11
A questionable move by Magnussen. Black-flag stuff. He clearly brake-checked Ocon on purpose, no question about that.
DAllein (@)
15th August 2020, 12:16
Ha-ha-ha-ha!
Guess what happens after engine modes are banned!
LOL
knightameer (@knightameer)
15th August 2020, 12:18
Seb’s fav spots these days. P-10 to P-12
Tifoso1989 (@tifoso1989)
15th August 2020, 12:20
Magnussen is a “recidivist” with regard to dangerous driving, he will never learn. I don’t know what the FIA are waiting to suspend his license for a race or two before somebody will get hurt.
Jere (@jerejj)
15th August 2020, 12:22
@tifoso1989 Indeed. Both Hulkenberg and Alonso were right.
Chaitanya
15th August 2020, 13:06
Dont forget Leclerc: he is and always will be stupid.
Tifoso1989 (@tifoso1989)
15th August 2020, 12:27
@jerejj
Yes indeed :)
Ben Needham (@ben-n)
15th August 2020, 12:27
That was pretty terrible driving from Magnussen. So non-committal; lazily drifting to the right having just passed a car.
ian dearing
15th August 2020, 12:43
All this nonsense about useless tyres and regulation changes to spice the show up. The answer all along was to put Rosberg in the booth with Croft. I almost felt sorry for Croft in the end. Didn’t let Croft talk over him, corrected him constantly, ignored his nonsense remarks, and the one thing I was glad to see; put Croft in his place when he made his childish sarcastic putdowns. What a refreshing changed to have two adults; Chandok and Rosberg, in the room.
On top of that Nico was informative, interesting, amusing, and offered some great insights into what was happening on track. More of that please.
AJ (@asleepatthewheel)
15th August 2020, 13:18
Loving Nico’s commentary this weekend. Calling out the sky nonsense we’ve become used to over the years
Dave
15th August 2020, 13:22
Magnussen to leave F1 for WEC confirmed. I’m calling it, that’s all.
Arhn (@arhn)
15th August 2020, 15:28
Please do not treat WEC as a lower racing category where unwanted F1 drivers should go. We, race fans, do not need to see a dangerous and questionable driver in any other series, especially in endurance racing where respect between drivers is fundamental.
Dave
15th August 2020, 15:51
I don’t care and I don’t think he’ll be an erratic madman the older he gets.
MarcusAurelius (@marcusaurelius)
16th August 2020, 9:35
Did all of you comment without seeing the replays?
Ocon was looking in his left mirror and drove straight at Magnussen. Only at the last second he looked ahead again and saw the Haas in front of him.
But I do agree Kevin had some questionable driving habits, but not this time.