Ferrari slowest as Hamilton leads F1 Belgian GP FP3
Formula 1 world championship leader Lewis Hamilton set the pace in final practice for the Belgian Grand Prix ahead of Esteban Ocon, while Ferrari’s misery continued.
Hamilton posted a 1m43.255s to top the FP3 timesheets amid a late flurry of action in the qualifying simulations, with the Mercedes driver finishing 0.230s clear of Ocon, who impressed for Renault.
Lando Norris was nearly four-tenths adrift as the next fastest driver for McLaren in what was an unusual top three order at Spa-Francorchamps.
After a hugely difficult Friday, Ferrari’s woes showed no sign of stopping with both its drivers out of position once again in final practice.
Charles Leclerc could only manage the 17th-quickest time as he finished 1.892s off the pace, while teammate Sebastian Vettel propped up the FP3 order with the slowest time of all, over two seconds down on Hamilton’s benchmark.
Alex Albon led Red Bull’s charge in fourth as he lapped within half a second of Hamilton’s time, with Valtteri Bottas and Max Verstappen both failing to set a representative final flying effort on Soft tyres at the end of the session.
Bottas finished fifth after aborting his last run following a wide moment coming out of La Source, while Verstappen got caught up in traffic and was also seen running wide when he finally got in a clean lap on his way to P6.
Following his impressive display to end Friday with the second-fastest time, Daniel Ricciardo was a more representative seventh for Renault, with Lance Stroll, Carlos Sainz and the second Racing Point of Sergio Perez completing the top 10.
Pierre Gasly was four-tenths further back as he led AlphaTauri teammate Daniil Kvyat in 11th, with Nicholas Latifi an encouraging 13th for Williams thanks to a strong late lap.
Latifi put his Williams ahead of the Haas duo headed by Kevin Magnussen, who was the fastest Ferrari-powered car in P14 having set his best time early on in the session as he made up for lost time on Friday.
Four-time Spa winner Kimi Raikkonen was also quicker than both Ferrari drivers in his Alfa Romeo to take 16th ahead of Leclerc, George Russell’s Williams, teammate Antonio Giovinazzi and Vettel in last.
FULL FINAL PRACTICE RESULTS FOR THE 2020 F1 BELGIAN GRAND PRIX.
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