F1 News: Mercedes top all FP sessions, Norris takes P3 in FP3

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Lewis Hamilton continued his form as he topped the charts ahead of qualifying in FP3 at Silverstone. While teammate Valtteri Bottas came in second as Lando Norris took P3 in his McLaren, 0.581s off Hamilton.
The 1 hour long session saw the Ferrari and McLaren sharing the track as it took 25 minutes for Mercedes to emerge.
With only 15 minutes remaining, the Silver Arrows began their qualifying runs on soft tyres as Hamilton beat Bottas with a fastest lap of 1m26.621s, 0.163s faster than the Finn.
Norris,started the session on softs but moved to mediums with 30 minutes remaining, managed to make it to P3 on those compounds the only driver to set PB in those compounds in FP3.
His team mate Carlos Sainz ended the session on medium tyres and finished P10, 1.006s off Hamilton.
The Racing Point in their RP20s still the main spotlight off-track after the FIA confirmed five teams intend to appeal the stewards’ verdict on their cars as Nico Hulkenberg finished in P4 just faster than fifth-place team mate Lance Stroll.
Charles Leclerc finished in P6 and team mate Sebastian Vettel, who ended the session in P13, took brand new engines, turbos and MGU-H units ahead of FP3 – with Vettel’s Ferrari power unit having spluttered to a halt at the end of FP2 on Friday.
According to Ferrari, the change on Leclerc’s car was done “as a precaution”, with no penalty incurred for either driver since they are still within their allocation for the season.
Max Verstappen had to abort his first flying lap on new soft tyres with ten minutes remaining having encountered Stroll on his slow lap through Maggotts/Becketts, which led to a rant over the radio.
The Red Bull driver later improved to finish P7, ahead of team mate Alex Albon in P8.
Renault’s Ocon managed a P9 finish over rival Sainz, while Daniel Ricciardo – who was an impressive third quickest in FP2 on Friday finished 14th overall as his final flying lap was disrupted by Norris.
FP3 standings:

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(65 Articles Published)