Canada – Free Practice 3: Vettel and Leclerc Confirm Against Mercedes
The third free practice session had the same outcome as Friday's FP2. A few hours before qualifying, it was the two Ferraris that outpaced the Mercedes. But this time, it was Sebastian Vettel who led the way.
After fifteen minutes of the session, only Robert Kubica had set a lap time of 1:16.732 behind the wheel of his Williams. A time quickly beaten successively by Kevin Magnussen, Pierre Gasly, Kvyat, and Kimi Räikkönen. The beginning of this session was also marked by smoke coming from Lance Stroll’s Racing Point. An engine failure that prevented the local favorite from completing a single lap this Saturday.
After Bottas’s problem the day before, it seems clear that the improvements made to the Mercedes engine do not seem to be yielding results.
🔥😮
Replays show flames spewing from the rear of Stroll’s car just before he returned to the pits #CanadianGP 🇨🇦 #F1 pic.twitter.com/g9R0dQiFoT
— Formula 1 (@F1) June 8, 2019
The Ferraris confirmed their good form from the previous day by taking the top two positions. With a lap time of 1’10’843, Sebastian Vettel is ahead of his teammate by a tenth. Charles Leclerc had a small scare approaching turn 1, with the Monegasque driver locking up both front wheels and going straight off. The improvements made to the Italian power unit seem to massively help the Scuderia, which was the fastest car in the third sector. One thing is certain: the Maranello team will be one to watch in qualifying, where pole position is clearly the number one goal.
Relegated to 4 tenths, Lewis Hamilton tried several lines, especially in the second chicane, to get ahead of the Ferraris, but clearly, nothing seemed to work. The misadventure in FP2 likely made the British driver more cautious, opting to keep a bit more distance from the Wall of Champions this session.
Valtteri Bottas finished this third free practice session in fourth place with a time of 1:11.531. The Finn is three-tenths behind his garage neighbor.
The Mercedes are most likely relying on their race pace to climb back up, with pole position seeming very difficult to achieve this weekend despite engine improvements.
Red Bull Racing was the only top team in this session to test medium tires. The Austrian team might try to use the yellow tires in Q2 to start the race with the medium set and attempt the risky gamble of a one-stop strategy. At the end of the session, Max Verstappen and Pierre Gasly did switch to soft tires, but it wasn’t conclusive as both cars finished nearly 1 second behind the Ferraris.
As during FP2, Max Verstappen was hindered near the final chicane while the Dutchman was completing a fast lap with two strong first sectors.
The last four places in the Top 10 are occupied by four different teams. Daniel Ricciardo recorded the 7th fastest time and was very aggressive with the curbs this afternoon. They are followed by Lando Norris, Sergio Perez, and Daniil Kvyat. None of these teams attempted medium tires during this session.
Complete ranking of FP3:
FP3 CLASSIFICATION: Ferrari on the front foot #CanadianGP 🇨🇦 #F1 pic.twitter.com/IbhOoWfn6C
— Formula 1 (@F1) June 8, 2019
