Hamilton leads Silverstone FP3 as Hartley crashes out

Lewis Hamilton closed out Formula 1 practice for the British Grand Prix as the fastest driver after edging out Ferrari rival Kimi Raikkonen in a session interrupted by a red flag following a frightening crash for Toro Rosso's Brendon Hartley.

After slipping behind title rival Sebastian Vettel in second practice on Friday afternoon, Hamilton was able to bounce back on Saturday morning and improve by more than seven-tenths of a second from his fastest time yesterday, ending with a best lap of 1m26.722s to finish at the head of the timesheets.

Hamilton's lap came in response to a fierce pace from Raikkonen, who ended the session just 0.093 seconds behind to finish second, running more than half a second clear of compatriot Valtteri Bottas in third place for Mercedes.

Sebastian Vettel was more than a second down on Hamilton come the end of the session in P4, but did not complete a second quick run on the Soft compound tyre due to a neck issue that was confirmed by Ferrari towards the end of the session.

FP3 was interrupted for 10 minutes by a red flag following a huge crash for Brendon Hartley at Brooklands due to a suspension failure, pitching his Toro Rosso car into the wall at high-speed. A failure on the front-left wheel triggered the crash, leaving Hartley to spear into the gravel before the car was pitched into the barrier.

Hartley was able to walk away seemingly unharmed, but was taken to the medical centre as a precaution due to the permitted G-force limit being surpassed, while Toro Rosso opted not to complete any more running with Pierre Gasly in the sister STR13 car through the remainder of the session.

Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo finished fifth and sixth respectively for Red Bull, while Charles Leclerc put in an impressive display for Sauber to finish as the leading midfield driver in seventh place, lapping less than two-tenths slower than the Red Bulls ahead. Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean took eighth and ninth respectively for Haas, while Marcus Ericsson completed the top 10 in the second Sauber.

Force India was left on the fringes of the top 10 as Esteban Ocon and Sergio Perez finished 11th and 12th ahead of McLaren's Fernando Alonso, who opted to complete the whole of FP3 on the Medium compound tyre. Renault pair Nico Hulkenberg and Carlos Sainz Jr. followed in P14 and P15 for Renault.

Lance Stroll led Williams' charge in 16th ahead of teammate Sergey Sirotkin, with Stoffel Vandoorne ending the session 18th in the second McLaren, only beating the sidelined Toro Rossos.