Bottas leads Hamilton in final practice at Silverstone

British Grand Prix – Valtteri Bottas has gone quickest in final practice at Silverstone, ahead of Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton with Max Verstappen in third.

Click here for the complete results from FP3 – 2020 British Grand Prix.

Valtteri Bottas has gone quickest in final practice at Silverstone. The Mercedes driver logged a 1:25.873 on the Soft compound Pirellis to eclipse Lewis Hamilton by a tenth. Hamilton’s potentially best lap of the session saw him make a mistake through Becketts as he lost the rear due to an apparent gust of wind. He backed out of that lap as a result, while Bottas came through moments later to set his eventual fastest time.

Max Verstappen went P3 for Red Bull Racing, seemingly happier overall with the handling of his RB16 after a relatively tough Friday. The Dutch driver did have some complaints during the session, mostly relating to tyre life through the lap or on a longer run. He finished 0.3 seconds away from the front on the same Soft tyre compound.

Lance Stroll finished in P4 for Racing Point, having put in a late flying lap that moved him up the order. He finished 0.7 seconds away from Bottas’ time, ahead of the McLaren of Carlos Sainz. The British team put in a very solid performance – Lando Norris was in P7, with the two McLarens split by the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc in P6. Just two tenths covered Stroll to Norris in those four positions.

Daniel Ricciardo was up next, finishing P8 for Renault. The Australian is using a new chassis for the rest of the weekend, after the team uncovered a hairline fracture on the one he was using on Friday. Nico Hulkenberg was P9 for Racing Point. He had been a close match for teammate Lance Stroll through most of the session, but made an error on his final flying lap that prevented him from moving up the order as dramatically as his teammate. There was 0.3 between Stroll and Hulkenberg at the end of the practice session.

Pierre Gasly and Daniil Kvyat were up next in P10 and P11 respectively, with Esteban Ocon in P12 for Renault.

Alex Albon was in P13 for Red Bull Racing, having only emerged onto the track in the final thirteen minutes due to a technical issue on his car. Having crashed out of FP2, he missed most of FP3 and had a flying lap deleted for exceeding track limits at Copse – eventually putting in the time that moved him into P13.

Sebastian Vettel was P14 after another troubled session. The Ferrari driver, once again, was sidelined as he reported a similar issue to Friday practice with something loose moving around the brake pedal area. He ended up 1.3 seconds away from the front, having also had a scruffy flying lap with a moment of snap oversteer at Becketts.

Romain Grosjean was P15 for Haas, ahead of George Russell’s Williams. Antonio Giovinazzi finished P17 for Alfa Romeo, with Kevin Magnussen in P18 for Haas. Kimi Raikkonen finished in P19 for Alfa Romeo, ahead of Williams’ Nicholas Latifi at the rear.