Hamilton stays on top in final F1 Anniversary GP practice

Lewis Hamilton set the pace in the final practice session before qualifying for Formula 1’s 70th Anniversary Grand Prix at Silverstone.

Just as he did in FP2 on Friday, the six-times world champion led another Mercedes 1-2 in the final 60-minute practice session as headed teammate Valtteri Bottas by 0.163s on a 1m26.621s.

Lando Norris was an impressive third for McLaren as he managed a time just half a second off the pace of Hamilton’s benchmark on the harder Medium compound.

Teams are expected to use the Medium compound in qualifying amid degradation concerns relating to Pirelli’s softest C4 compound. Most drivers exclusively used the Softs throughout FP3 to save sets of Medium and Hards for qualifying.

Racing Point were line-a-stern in P4 and P5 as Nico Hulkenberg nipped ahead of teammate Lance Stroll by just 0.007s.

Charles Leclerc was sixth-fastest in his Ferrari, ahead of the Red Bull duo headed by Max Verstappen, who whose first qualifying simulation run was ruined when he came across a slow-moving Racing Point of Stroll in the middle sector.

Verstappen did find improvement on his second run to edge Red Bull teammate Alex Albon by less than a tenth, though his Soft tyres were past their best at this stage.

Esteban Ocon and Carlos Sainz completed the top 10 for Renault and McLaren respectively.

Pierre Gasly was the fastest AlphaTauri in 11th, one position ahead of teammate Daniil Kvyat and Sebastian Vettel, who ended final practice a lowly 13th in his Ferrari.

The second Renault of Daniel Ricciardo improved on a used set of Softs to lift himself to a respective 14th given the state of his tyres, ahead of Romain Grosjean’s Haas, while Nicholas Latifi shaded Williams teammate George Russell, who suffered a wide moment at Stowe.

The Alfa Romeos of Antonio Giovinazzi and Kimi Raikkonen, and Haas driver Kevin Magnussen rounded out the bottom of the FP3 timesheets.

FULL RESULTS FROM FINAL PRACTICE FOR F1’S 70TH ANNIVERSARY GP.