Verstappen fastest by four tenths in final British Grand Prix practice

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

Position	Number	Driver	Team	Model	Time	Gap	Laps
1	1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	RB18	1’27.901		18
2	11	Sergio Perez	Red Bull	RB18	1’28.311	0.410	21
3	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	F1-75	1’28.348	0.447	21
4	63	George Russell	Mercedes	W13	1’28.426	0.525	21
5	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	W13	1’28.488	0.587	24
6	55	Carlos Sainz Jnr	Ferrari	F1-75	1’28.689	0.788	21
7	4	Lando Norris	McLaren-Mercedes	MCL36	1’29.102	1.201	20
8	77	Valtteri Bottas	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	C42	1’29.185	1.284	20
9	47	Mick Schumacher	Haas-Ferrari	VF-22	1’29.510	1.609	21
10	14	Fernando Alonso	Alpine-Renault	A522	1’29.520	1.619	20
11	31	Esteban Ocon	Alpine-Renault	A522	1’29.552	1.651	24
12	5	Sebastian Vettel	Aston Martin-Mercedes	AMR22	1’29.593	1.692	25
13	24	Zhou Guanyu	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	C42	1’29.752	1.851	17
14	23	Alexander Albon	Williams-Mercedes	FW44	1’29.780	1.879	22
15	10	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri-Red Bull	AT03	1’29.885	1.984	23
16	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin-Mercedes	AMR22	1’29.892	1.991	26
17	22	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri-Red Bull	AT03	1’30.039	2.138	22
18	3	Daniel Ricciardo	McLaren-Mercedes	MCL36	1’30.293	2.392	21
19	6	Nicholas Latifi	Williams-Mercedes	FW44	1’30.489	2.588	16
20	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas-Ferrari	VF-22	1’30.523	2.622	19

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