Brazilian GP: Free Practice #3 - Re-Cap & Times

BRAZILIAN GP - FREE PRACTICE #3 - RE-CAP & TIMES

    The top four drivers were covered by just five hundredths of a second in the final free practice session ahead of the Brazilian Grand Prix.

    In cooler conditions than Friday practice, Valtteri Bottas topped the times with a 1m09.281s, 0.003s faster than team-mate Lewis Hamilton in second.

    Kimi Raikkonen topped the times early on, with Sebastian Vettel not too far behind, but Hamilton’s time on the soft compound of tyres was only marginally slower than the Ferrari times on the super soft compound.

    Ferrari were still top after Hamilton’s first run on super soft tyres, but both Mercedes were able to improve to push Raikkonen down to third and Vettel fourth.

    Daniel Ricciardo finished fifth, but was nearly a second slower than Bottas. Team-mate Max Verstappen was only ninth quickest after a spin late in the session.

    A virtual safety car limited running only 10 minutes after the green flag, when Lance Stroll came to a stop on track claiming he lost power. The Canadian only managed a single lap and didn’t set a lap time. He will take a grid penalty for a gearbox change.

    Fernando Alonso put his McLaren Honda sixth fastest, ahead of the Force Indias of Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon.

    Carlos Sainz Jnr rounded out the top 10.

    Stoffel Vandoorne’s time, just three tenths of a second slower than Alonso’s, was only enough to put him 11th fastest. He was followed by Felipe Massa, Kevin Magnussen, Nico Hulkenberg, and Romain Grosjean.

    After problems with their Renault engines in Friday practice, both Toro Rosso drivers were able to get strong running in the final session. Pierre Gasly, who finished 16th fastest, completed 32 laps, more than any other driver. Brendon Hartley in 17th completed 30.

    Pascal Wehrlein and Marcus Ericsson took 18th and 19th.

TIMES:

1. Valtteri Bottas - 1:09.281 / Mercedes-Mercedes / Finland
2. Lewis Hamilton - 1:09.284 / Mercedes-Mercedes / Great Britain
3. Kimi Raikkonen - 1:09.326 / Ferrari-Ferrari / Finland
4. Sebastian Vettel - 1:09.339 / Ferrari-Ferrari / Germany
5. Daniel Ricciardo - 1:10.244 / Red Bull-TAG-Heuer / Australia
6. Fernando Alonso - 1:10.288 / McLaren-Honda / Spain
7. Sergio Perez - 1:10.322 / Force India-Mercedes / Mexico
8. Esteban Ocon - 1:10.357 / Force India-Mercedes / France
9. Max Verstappen - 1:10.495 / Red Bull-TAG-Heuer / Netherlands
10. Carlos Sainz - 1:10.599 / Renault-Renault / Spain
11. Stoffel Vandoorne - 1:10.637 / McLaren-Honda / Belgium
12. Felipe Massa - 1:10.671 / Williams-Mercedes / Brazil
13. Kevin Magnussen - 1:10.721 / Haas-Ferrari / Denmark
14. Nico Hulkenberg - 1:10.743 / Renault-Renault / Germany
15. Romain Grosjean - 1:10.762 / Haas-Ferrari / France
16. Pierre Gasly - 1:10.981 / Toro Rosso-Renault / France
17. Brendon Hartley - 1:11.085 / Toro Rosso-Renault / New Zealand
18. Pascal Wehrlein - 1:11.126 / Sauber-Ferrari / Germany
19. Marcus Ericsson - 1:11.480 / Sauber-Ferrari / Sweden
20. Lance Stroll - NO TIME SET / Williams-Mercedes / Canada

----
Article Written By: Bethonie Waring
No copyright infringement intended
Follow us on Twitter @Bethonie_Boost & @F1Insider78