Hungaroring, FP3: Hamilton completes Hungarian practice sweep

Lewis Hamilton made it a hat-trick of practice session fastest times by eclipsing team-mate Nico Rosberg by just 0.047 seconds in final practice for the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso had been fastest on the medium Pirelli tyre as Hamilton worked through a low key opening spell on the slower prime compound. However, with his final laps on the tyre Hamilton jumped to top spot with three tenths in hand over the Spaniard.

Hamilton slid to seventh as the first runs on the faster soft compound were completed but the Briton then set fastest times in the first two sectors and a personal best in the final stretch to dislodge Rosberg from P1. The German improved, eventually edging to within five hundredths of a second of his team-mate but he could find no way past.

Behind the Mercedes, Sebastian Vettel was third for Red Bull Racing, four tenths of a second down on Hamilton’s time. Daniel Ricciardo was fourth in the sister Red Bull car on a track, which due to its lack of high-speed straights, plays more to the aerodynamic strengths of the RB10.

Behind them Valtteri Bottas gave lie to his own suggestion that the circuit is not one that will favour Williams by taking fifth place in the session. Alonso eventually finished sixth for Ferrari, with team-mate Kimi Raikkonen seventh.

Kevin Magnussen was eighth for McLaren, with team-mate Jenson Button 12th, and the final two top 10 places were claimed by Toro Rosso’s Jean-Eric Vergne and Daniil Kvyat.