FP3 Hamilton On Top
Lewis Hamilton set the fastest time in FP3 for the Spanish Grand Prix as Mercedes looks like the team to beat in qualifying on Saturday afternoon.
Hamilton had a 0.013s margin over his teammate Bottas at the end of the session, which was ended with a few minutes to go after the red flag was brought out after Brendon Hartley had a big accident at the high-speed Turn 9.
Even after the overnight changes to the cars, it appears Ferrari may not be able to challenge for pole. Sebastian Vettel was a solid two and a half tenths behind Hamilton, and Kimi Raikkonen was a solid three tenths behind.
Daniel Ricciardo was fifth-quickest while Max Verstappen was only 12th after sticking to Medium rubber. Verstappen faces an investigation for not staying to the left of the bollard when rejoining the track at Turn 2.
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The session came to an end when Brendon Hartley crashed his Toro Rosso on the right-hander into turn nine.
The rear of Hartley’s Toro Rosso suffered substantial damage, with the parts of the rear falling out as the marshals recovered the vehicle. Hartley walked away unhurt.
The midfield was led by Haas, with Magnussen sixth a second behind Hamilton, but three-tenths clear of his team-mate of Romain Grosjean.
Carlos Sainz, Fernando Alonso and Pierre Gasly rounded out the top 10.
Hulkenberg was 11th ahead of Verstappen, Force India’s Esteban Ocon and McLaren’s Stoffel Vandoorne.
Charles Leclerc was 15th, with Perez 16th, and Hartley finished 17th.
Marcus Ericsson was 18th, as Lance Stroll and Sergey Sirotkin again finished at the back, 2.6s off the pace.