Lewis Hamilton keeps Mercedes on top in the third practice session of F1 Spanish GP with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc in second and and Valtteri Bottas third.
The FP3 session of F1 Spanish GP at Circuit de Catalunya, Barcleona, ended under red flag with Hamilton (1m16.568s) quickest with a half a second margin over Leclerc (1m17.099s) and Bottas (1m17.123s) as Sebastian Vettel (1m17.192s) was only fourth.
After a chasing Friday, Hamilton seems on pace in cooler conditions at Barcelona. His teammate dropped out after a spin on his out lap which caused a red flag early in the session. He managed to return to the track towards the end of the session.
With Red Bull Racing not setting a time on the soft compound, Haas’ Romain Grosjean had a solid run in fifth with a 1m17.192s lap, only 0.024s behind Vettel. Teammate Kevin Magnussen (1m17.530s) was sixth ahead of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen (1m17.558s).
The Dutchman only did handful of laps on the soft but couldn’t better the Haas drivers. Toro Rosso’s Alexander Albon (1m17.864s) did well in eighth with Alfa Romeo Racing’s Kimi Raikkonen (1m17.969s) ninth and McLaren’s Carlos Sainz (1m18.003s) 10th.
Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat (1m18.105s) slotted in 11th with Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg (1m18.350s) in 12th ahead of Racing Point’s Sergio Perez (1m18.656s) and Lance Stroll (1m18.693s) with Red Bull’s Pierre Gasly (1m18.693s) in 15th.
The Frenchman couldn’t set a time on the soft compound as the session was red-flagged, the moment he ventured out like few others. Alfa Romeo Racing’s Antonio Giovinazzi (1m18.740s) was 16th from Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo (1m18.974s).
The Australian couldn’t set a time on the soft compound like McLaren’s Lando Norris (1m19.007s) in 18th with Williams’ George Russell (1m19.421s) and Robert Kubica (1m20.570s) rounding out the 20 runners.
It was, in fact, Russell’s gravel moment with nearly two minutes remaining on the clock that got the second red flag which ended the Spanish GP FP3 session early.