Max Verstappen, Red Bull, Silverstone, 2022

Verstappen fastest by four tenths in final British Grand Prix practice

2022 British Grand Prix third practice

Posted on

| Written by

Max Verstappen stated his intentions for qualifying by going fastest by four tenths input a second in final practice for the British Grand Prix.

Verstappen’s best time of a 1’27.901 was enough to see him end practice comfortably clear of Red Bull team mate Sergio Perez and almost half a second clear of Charles Leclerc.

The two Mercedes of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton were fourth and fifth, ahead of Carlos Sainz Jnr in the second Ferrari.

Overcast skies greeted drivers over Silverstone as they prepared for the final hour of practice ahead of qualifying. Air temperature was only around 17C, while the track itself was a cool 24C.

Teams were keen to get out with many drivers heading straight onto the soft tyres to dial in their cars ahead of qualifying. Charles Leclerc set the early pace with a 1’29.452, just under two tenths faster than Red Bull’s Sergio Perez. The two Mercedes of Russell and Hamilton moved into third and fourth places, before an improvement by Hamilton saw him move ahead of his team mate.

Then it was Verstappen’s turn to venture out on the soft tyres and he used them to move to the top of the times with a 1’28.498, over three tenths faster than Leclerc. Hamilton also improved his personal best time to move up to second, just under two tenths slower than Verstappen’s best.

Around half way into the session, the risk of rain for the remainder of practice had reduced further. With 25 minutes remaining, the track fell silent as teams brought their cars in for checks and last set up tweaks ahead of their final practice runs ahead of qualifying.

Russell was the first of the top six runners to attempt a qualifying simulation run. He improved to go third fastest, just over five hundredths off team mate Hamilton. Leclerc then set a personal best to go within two thousandths of a second of Verstappen, but then the Red Bull driver delivered a strong lap of his own to improve by almost half a second and break into the 1’27s for the first time all weekend.

Perez lowered his own personal best time to move into second place – albeit just over four tenths from his team mate’s benchmark time. With only two minutes remaining, Verstappen took to the track for one final run before qualifying. However, he opted not to start a flying lap before the chequered flag, continuing around for a final tour before lining up on the grid for a practice start.

Verstappen therefore ended the session fastest of all by over four tenths from Perez, with Leclerc third fastest almost four hundredths behind the Red Bulls. The two Mercedes of Russell and Hamilton were fourth and fifth, just over half a second away from Verstappen’s best time.

Carlos Sainz Jnr ended the session sixth in the second Ferrari, four tenths ahead of Lando Norris in seventh and Valtteri Bottas in eighth. Mick Schumacher ended the session ninth for Haas, ahead of the two Alpines of Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon.

2022 British Grand Prix third practice result

PositionNumberDriverTeamModelTimeGapLaps
11Max VerstappenRed BullRB181’27.90118
211Sergio PerezRed BullRB181’28.3110.41021
316Charles LeclercFerrariF1-751’28.3480.44721
463George RussellMercedesW131’28.4260.52521
544Lewis HamiltonMercedesW131’28.4880.58724
655Carlos Sainz JnrFerrariF1-751’28.6890.78821
74Lando NorrisMcLaren-MercedesMCL361’29.1021.20120
877Valtteri BottasAlfa Romeo-FerrariC421’29.1851.28420
947Mick SchumacherHaas-FerrariVF-221’29.5101.60921
1014Fernando AlonsoAlpine-RenaultA5221’29.5201.61920
1131Esteban OconAlpine-RenaultA5221’29.5521.65124
125Sebastian VettelAston Martin-MercedesAMR221’29.5931.69225
1324Zhou GuanyuAlfa Romeo-FerrariC421’29.7521.85117
1423Alexander AlbonWilliams-MercedesFW441’29.7801.87922
1510Pierre GaslyAlphaTauri-Red BullAT031’29.8851.98423
1618Lance StrollAston Martin-MercedesAMR221’29.8921.99126
1722Yuki TsunodaAlphaTauri-Red BullAT031’30.0392.13822
183Daniel RicciardoMcLaren-MercedesMCL361’30.2932.39221
196Nicholas LatifiWilliams-MercedesFW441’30.4892.58816
2020Kevin MagnussenHaas-FerrariVF-221’30.5232.62219

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

2022 British Grand Prix

Browse all 2022 British Grand Prix articles

Author information

Will Wood
Will has been a RaceFans contributor since 2012 during which time he has covered F1 test sessions, launch events and interviewed drivers. He mainly...

Got a potential story, tip or enquiry? Find out more about RaceFans and contact us here.

8 comments on “Verstappen fastest by four tenths in final British Grand Prix practice”

  1. Has anyone seen mass protests from supporters of the Sprint gimmick, yet?

    Shouldn’t there be at least some public growling if that thing were as popular as Stefano Domenicali and the other Liberty goons would have us believe?

    1. Chandhok and button did actually on the sky broadcast. Made several points about how the practice session was relatively boring and they’d rather see a race

  2. Has anyone seen mass protests from supporters of the Sprint gimmick, yet?

    Who were you expecting to protest?
    Ross and Stefano perhaps, and maybe their best mates. I’m not convinced anyone else likes the idea.

    1. Lots of people prefer sprints over practice sessions.
      Unless you think they are lying..?

  3. basically

    Russell keeps beating Hamilton

    in his first competitive team, so how is it not equal to 2007? and no one talks about it?

  4. Should be a formality that Rbr is on rails

  5. Yes, it’s “just practise”, but even if Leclerc works his magic again and sticks the Ferrari on pole – it’s ever more looking like Verstappen is going to just run away with this championship. Aside from Australia, the Red Bull has looked at worst just as quick as the Ferrari, and has otherwise had (much) better race pace and seemingly far less handling and bouncing issues.

  6. They should only have sprint qualifiers when its raining. ;^)

Comments are closed.