Lewis Hamilton topped the instances for Mercedes forward of Renault’s Esteban Ocon as Sebastian Vettel slumped to 20th and final for Ferrari in Saturday morning’s third and remaining apply for Sunday’s Belgian Grand Prix. The championship chief and defending six-time champion clocked a quickest lap in a single minute and 43.255 seconds to outpace Ocon by two-tenths because the session produced an surprising consequence.
Hamilton’s ‘black arrows’ team-mate Valtteri Bottas was down in fifth place, separated from the Briton by Ocon, Lando Norris of McLaren in third and Alex Albon of Purple Bull.
Max Verstappen, who was quickest on Friday in his Purple Bull, was sixth forward of Daniel Ricciardo within the second Renault and the 2 Racing Factors of Lance Stroll, in eighth, and Sergio Perez, tenth, break up by Carlos Sainz.
Most remarkably, final yr’s race winner Charles Leclerc and his Ferrari team-mate Vettel, the 2018 winner, wound up in 17th and 20th locations – an final result that created the prospect of each Ferraris, combating primary efficiency in addition to tyre issues, failing to progress from Q1 in qualifying in a while Saturday.
On a dismal and overcast morning, with sporadic showers following heavy in a single day rain, the air temperature was solely 14 levels Celsius and the monitor simply 19 as remaining apply started with solely the 2 Haas vehicles venturing out within the opening 20 minutes.
The cool situations meant it was very troublesome for the groups and their drivers to heat up their tyres and this, in flip, inspired them to delay their laps till they’d the prospect of a transparent run.
When the remainder joined the fray, Norris, Albon, Hamilton and Bottas successively took over from Kevin Magnussen on prime of the instances, all bettering their laps in a bid to beat the threatened rain.
After his quickest time on Friday, Verstappen resumed by separating the 2 Mercedes and taking second for Purple Bull because the Ardennes’ famously capricious microclimate produced heavy rain and sunshine concurrently at completely different components of the sprawling monitor.
All this resulted in a mini visitors jam earlier than the ultimate flurry of laps because the drivers jostled for positions earlier than lapping in earnest.
Promoted
“The visitors is a nightmare – in the beginning of the lap, it is unattainable,” mentioned Leclerc.
Williams’ George Russell was extra succinct. “Oh my God,” he mentioned. “What a joke.”
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