Great Britain – Free Practice 3: Hamilton asserts himself on home soil, marginally ahead of Vettel
The last practice session saw rain appear on the track, but the drivers were able to run on slicks for two-thirds of the session. Lewis Hamilton reclaimed the record from his teammate with a 1'28"063, but Sebastian Vettel and Valtteri Bottas remained within a tenth of the Briton. A surprising Nico Hülkenberg is right behind the leading team duo.
It’s a gloomy sky that greets the drivers at Silverstone this morning, with drops even felt in the paddocks. Pascal Wehrlein and Daniel Ricciardo show up at the end of the pit lane as soon as the green light appears.
On his cooldown lap, Lewis Hamilton waves to the crowd every time he passes a stand; the Briton wants to make up for his absent Thursday during the event organized in London.
First benchmark time of 1:29.544 for Hamilton on softs, Bottas and Vettel do not wait to chase him. The German falls short by more than 5 tenths while the Finnish driver takes the fastest time with 1:29.393.
The Ferrari is extremely low this morning, with the floor nearly continuously touching the track whether in curves or on the straight. Kimi Räikkönen, who took the 3rd fastest time from his teammate, is complaining about the first drops of rain.
💥 @ScuderiaFerrari lighting up a grey day #FP3 #BritishGP 🇬🇧 #F1 pic.twitter.com/06wG1Vtvlh
— Formula 1 (@F1) 15 juillet 2017
While in an onboard camera with Esteban Ocon, we see that turns 1 and 2 can now be taken flat out, Hamilton takes the best time with 1’28″747, beating Bottas by 80 thousandths. At the end of his lap, Ocon is 7th, while Romain Grosjean is 14th.
Quick standings update approaching mid-session: Hamilton leads Bottas, followed by Vettel, Räikkönen, and Verstappen, with Ricciardo, Ocon, Vandoorne, Pérez, and Alonso rounding out the top 10. Sainz is 11th ahead of Hülkenberg, Kvyat, Ericsson, Grosjean, Massa, Palmer, Wehrlein, Magnussen, and Stroll bringing up the rear.
The rain is being increasingly announced on the radios by the drivers, Hamilton completes a fantastic lap in 1:28.063, Bottas improves but remains 151 milliseconds behind, Vettel also greatly improves but falls short by 32 milliseconds behind the Briton. Vettel holds the record in sectors 1 and 2, while Hamilton retains the sector 3 record.
Vettel splits the two Mercedes with a 1:28.095s
TOP 10
HAM
VET
BOT
RAI
VER
RIC
OCO
VAN
PER
ALO#BritishGP 🇬🇧 #F1 pic.twitter.com/RGkhKicYrq— Formula 1 (@F1) 15 juillet 2017
At Red Bull, Max Verstappen takes his troubles with patience in his garage, heavy work is being done under his RB13 as well as at the rear. Ricciardo on track recovers the 6th place from his teammate. Nico Hülkenberg completes a very good lap, placing 5th ahead of the Red Bulls. Jolyon Palmer is likely to suffer again in the comparison at his home race, but he saves face by taking the 10th time.
Despite rain now affecting the first and last sectors, the drivers still manage to improve their times: Massa climbs to 8th place, pushed to 9th when Grosjean takes 7th. Magnussen moves up to 13th place.
The opportunity is short-lived because the rain quickly becomes too heavy to continue pushing with slick tires. Verstappen had come back out but quickly complains about the heavy rain after missing at turn 7. A little humor on this topic over the radio.
A replay shows Verstappen went off the road as the shower hit. “There are yellows at Turn 7,” he’s told. “Yeah, because of me,” he replies.
— Autosport Live (@autosportlive) 15 juillet 2017
The session seems to be heading towards an early end, there are a little less than 15 minutes left but it is equally impossible to drive effectively on slicks or intermediates. Lewis Hamilton leaves his pit box before returning, Bottas stays in his car to analyze the data displayed on his screen.
At McLaren, Vandoorne is sent out on intermediates for a reconnaissance lap. The movement seems to be underway as, with 5 minutes remaining in the session, activity resumes in the garages and Verstappen takes to the track, followed by Kvyat and Ericsson. Finally, the entire field gets back on track to cover a few kilometers on intermediates and perform a start procedure.
Big scare for Ricciardo at the exit of the last turn, he slides and sees the pit wall flash past the nose of his Red Bull. Ericsson locks his rear wheels at the braking of the last chicane, does a 360 and goes straight into the gravel but can rejoin the track without damage. The checkered flag is waved and the drivers will be able to perform their starting procedure.
RIC goes sideways in the pit straight #BritishGP 🇬🇧 #F1 pic.twitter.com/5PU1cO9mBj
— Formula 1 (@F1) 15 juillet 2017
The complete ranking of FP3:
PROVISIONAL CLASSIFICATION (END OF FP3): 👀 Tight between the top three #BritishGP 🇬🇧 #F1 pic.twitter.com/HrEHQuiHQn
— Formula 1 (@F1) 15 juillet 2017
