Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes, Mugello, 2020

Bottas pips Verstappen and Hamilton to complete clean sweep of Mugello practice

2020 Tuscan Grand Prix Ferrari 1000 third practice

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Valtteri Bottas was quickest for the third practice session in a row on Saturday morning at Mugello.

However the Mercedes driver had two of his rivals for company at the top of the times sheets. Max Verstappen was just 17 thousandths of a second slower than Bottas, and Lewis Hamilton also lapped within a tenth of a second of his team mate.

Alexander Albon wasn’t able to match his team mate’s pace after leaving his last effort until the final minutes. He dropped a wheel onto the grass and ended up eight-quickest on a 1’17.538, almost a second off Verstappen’s best time.

The pair were separated by both Racing Points, Italian Grand Prix winner Pierre Gasly and Charles Leclerc. Sergio Perez was the quicker of the two RP20s, lapping just over half a second slower than Bottas. He will take a one-place grid penalty following this afternoon’s qualifying session.

Daniil Kvyat’s AlphaTauri and – surprisingly – Romain Grosjean’s Haas completed the top 10.

The session began slowly, few drivers choosing to run in the opening 20 minutes. Kimi Raikkonen was among the first to run, but ended the session 14th quickest after being held up by Leclerc.

Sebastian Vettel had a tough session, ending up 18th in his Ferrari. He was followed by Lando Norris, who was back in action after missing much of second practice yesterday following his crash.

Williams driver George Russell was the only one not to set a time following a brake-by-wire problem.

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2020 Tuscan Grand Prix Ferrari 1000 third practice result

Pos. No. Driver Car Best lap Gap Laps
1 77 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1’16.530 17
2 33 Max Verstappen Red Bull-Honda 1’16.547 0.017 10
3 44 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1’16.613 0.083 14
4 18 Lance Stroll Racing Point-Mercedes 1’17.112 0.582 10
5 10 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri-Honda 1’17.226 0.696 14
6 11 Sergio Perez Racing Point-Mercedes 1’17.341 0.811 14
7 16 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1’17.488 0.958 15
8 23 Alexander Albon Red Bull-Honda 1’17.538 1.008 11
9 26 Daniil Kvyat AlphaTauri-Honda 1’17.627 1.097 17
10 8 Romain Grosjean Haas-Ferrari 1’17.635 1.105 19
11 31 Esteban Ocon Renault 1’17.746 1.216 13
12 55 Carlos Sainz Jnr McLaren-Renault 1’17.768 1.238 19
13 99 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo-Ferrari 1’17.812 1.282 15
14 7 Kimi Raikkonen Alfa Romeo-Ferrari 1’17.843 1.313 17
15 20 Kevin Magnussen Haas-Ferrari 1’18.039 1.509 17
16 6 Nicholas Latifi Williams-Mercedes 1’18.072 1.542 16
17 3 Daniel Ricciardo Renault 1’18.142 1.612 12
18 5 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1’18.186 1.656 15
19 4 Lando Norris McLaren-Renault 1’18.826 2.296 19
20 63 George Russell Williams-Mercedes

Third practice visual gaps

Valtteri Bottas – 1’16.530

+0.017 Max Verstappen – 1’16.547

+0.083 Lewis Hamilton – 1’16.613

+0.582 Lance Stroll – 1’17.112

+0.696 Pierre Gasly – 1’17.226

+0.811 Sergio Perez – 1’17.341

+0.958 Charles Leclerc – 1’17.488

+1.008 Alexander Albon – 1’17.538

+1.097 Daniil Kvyat – 1’17.627

+1.105 Romain Grosjean – 1’17.635

+1.216 Esteban Ocon – 1’17.746

+1.238 Carlos Sainz Jnr – 1’17.768

+1.282 Antonio Giovinazzi – 1’17.812

+1.313 Kimi Raikkonen – 1’17.843

+1.509 Kevin Magnussen – 1’18.039

+1.542 Nicholas Latifi – 1’18.072

+1.612 Daniel Ricciardo – 1’18.142

+1.656 Sebastian Vettel – 1’18.186

+2.296 Lando Norris – 1’18.826

Drivers more then ten seconds off the pace omitted.

Pos Driver Car FP1 FP2 FP3 Fri/Sat diff Total laps
1 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1’17.879 1’16.989 1’16.530 -0.459 78
2 Max Verstappen Red Bull-Honda 1’17.927 1’17.235 1’16.547 -0.688 67
3 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1’18.409 1’17.196 1’16.613 -0.583 71
4 Lance Stroll Racing Point-Mercedes 1’19.836 1’18.462 1’17.112 -1.35 70
5 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri-Honda 1’18.676 1’18.244 1’17.226 -1.018 74
6 Sergio Perez Racing Point-Mercedes 1’19.840 1’18.198 1’17.341 -0.857 77
7 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1’18.186 1’18.400 1’17.488 -0.698 69
8 Alexander Albon Red Bull-Honda 1’19.068 1’17.971 1’17.538 -0.433 73
9 Daniil Kvyat AlphaTauri-Honda 1’18.839 1’18.736 1’17.627 -1.109 81
10 Romain Grosjean Haas-Ferrari 1’19.224 1’19.257 1’17.635 -1.589 49
11 Esteban Ocon Renault 1’18.805 1’18.115 1’17.746 -0.369 70
12 Carlos Sainz Jnr McLaren-Renault 1’19.457 1’18.651 1’17.768 -0.883 84
13 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo-Ferrari 1’19.322 1’18.944 1’17.812 -1.132 78
14 Kimi Raikkonen Alfa Romeo-Ferrari 1’19.219 1’18.385 1’17.843 -0.542 76
15 Daniel Ricciardo Renault 1’19.140 1’18.039 1’18.142 +0.103 69
16 Kevin Magnussen Haas-Ferrari 1’19.551 1’19.113 1’18.039 -1.074 74
17 Nicholas Latifi Williams-Mercedes 1’20.034 1’18.983 1’18.072 -0.911 79
18 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1’19.267 1’18.498 1’18.186 -0.312 81
19 Lando Norris McLaren-Renault 1’18.981 1’18.658 1’18.826 +0.168 58
20 George Russell Williams-Mercedes 1’19.478 1’18.843 63

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2020 Tuscan Grand Prix Ferrari 1000

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    13 comments on “Bottas pips Verstappen and Hamilton to complete clean sweep of Mugello practice”

    1. Wow Verstappen 1 second quicker than his teammate and on the pace of the Mercedes. Imagine what he’d do in a Merc.

      1. He’ll do exactly what either of the two Mercedes drivers are doing. And this is practice, not we qualifying.

      2. Even as a verstappen fan, I have to admit it’s more albon who’s a disaster than verstappen who does magic, he’s a very strong driver but on mercedes I feel he’d be on hamilton’s level (on a typical race) or little faster, while hamilton has more exp.

        1. He’s be a lot quicker than Hamilton in the same car.

          Bottas no better than a Perez or Grosjean at the end of the day, yet often close to the pace of Hamilton.

          1. Really? Yet in wet weather qualification this year, when the cars level out considerably and driver talent comes to the fore, Verstappen was still over a second off Hamilton’s pace. Personally I’d guess Verstappen would be very slightly quicker, while Hamilton is a bit more subtle with inputs and slightly better in terms of car awareness and track conditions. But they’d be very evenly matched. There’s no need to downplay Hamilton’s level, proven on multiple levels and in multiple situations, to make a claim for how good Verstappen is.

            1. max seems faster thanx to the fact he is driving like there is no tomorrow… he is way too aggressive and doesnt think about a whole race let alone whole season — he is like living the moment… his mission is to overtake at all costs… this reason he looks faster over a lap, but whole gp/season is a whole lot different ball game… with the current limited budgets financially (spending) and physically (car parts) he will find it best to tone down a little… it is not like ham is slow, he just takes it easy, he has been one of the most aggressive fair guys in the past, he can be aggressive but he uses his brain more than say compared 2007 13/14 years ago when he jumped f1 wagon…

            2. @mysticus That description certainly applies to a couple of years ago, but I think Verstappen has evolved already. Also I don’t see his aggression as a problem. The issue I thought was his tendency to be a touch arrogant when he got passed, he’d ‘flick’ the car in front of the passed driver, a bit like some tailgaters do once they’ve passed to show you shouldn’t have been holding them up (maybe it’s just a Brazil thing). And that sometimes cost him, Brazil 2018 being one case when he clashed with Ocon. Aggression has to be channelled to 100% functional, not pointless gesture, which is what Hamilton has perfected.

            3. @david-br thats kind of what i was saying… his aggression is not really a fair one, some of the moves he has been doing until this year were blatantly dangerous… Yes he has mellowed this year a lot compared to previous years… he still keeps the cheeky/snobbish attitude a bit, but his comments after race calmed and matured… Hope he continues to be fair aggressive, that makes racing enjoying…

      3. well, we simply will never know. Personally, i find Bottas a tier 2 driver (category: Perez, Hulk) and one could expect Max to have 0.3s edge on him.

    2. Gasly and Stroll again! Fair play.

    3. “Sergio Perez was the quicker of the two RP20s, lapping just over half a second slower than Bottas.”

      This should say Stroll I think!

    4. Leclerc holding people up again. Tut tut.

    5. Looks like Mercedes is trying to build his confidence. The troubles is when Hamilton holds back that makes all the more likely that Verstappen will step in.

      Hamilton can afford to drive within himself on this ‘unknown’ track and leave the risk taking to those who need the points.

      The story of this race will be Bottas or Verstappen, who gets that runners up spot?

    Comments are closed.