Canada, FP3: Vettel heads Ferrari 1-2 in final practice

Sebastian Vettel led the way in the final practice for the Canadian Grand Prix beating Charles Leclerc to the top of the timesheet by 0.139s as Ferrari claimed the top two spots ahead of Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas.

After a slow start to the session, the Ferrari drivers quickly moved to the top of the times when the action properly got underway after some 20 minutes.

Leclerc initially took control with a time of 1:11.596 but Vettel then edged past that with a lap of 1:11.557.

Hamilton and Bottas held third and fourth places in this phase of the session, with Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen and Pierre Gasly lined up behind them. However, while the leading cars set their times on the soft compound Pirelli tyres, the Red Bull pair spent the early part of the session on medium tyres.

There was trouble for local favourite Lance Stroll during the opening half hour. As the Racing Point driver approached the final chicane, a pall of smoke and a bust of flame appeared from the back of his car. He quickly changed course and headed for the pit entrance.

He stopped the car and a MGU-K failure was quickly diagnosed. The issue kept the Canadian driver in the pits for the remainder of the session.

There was trouble as well for Lando Norris, with the McLaren driver being placed under investigation for rejoining from the wrong side of the bollards in the final chicane after he had taken too much kerb on entry and missed the corner.

With 20 minutes remaining in the session, Bottas moved to the front of the order with the Mercedes man setting a time of 1:11.531 on new soft tyres.

His stay at the top didn’t last long, however.

Leclerc made a significant step forward with a time of 1:11.058s and then lowered the benchmark again with a time of 1:10.982s but Vettel again edged his young team-mate with a final time of 1:10.843, just under a tenth of his own absolute track record at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, set during last year’s Q3 session.

Neither Mercedes driver could threaten the Ferrari’s drivers grip on the top two places and Hamilton had to settle for third, 0.393s behind Vettel and 0.295s ahead of Bottas.

The true pace of the Red Bulls was again hard to judge as Max Verstappen was hampered on his quali sim and managed a time 1:11.842, +0.999 to Vettel. Team-mate Pierre Gasly 0.072 behind his team-mate in P6.

Seventh place in the session went to Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo, with the Australian setting a time of 1:12.045 to 1.202 off the pace. Apart from his earlier trip across the chicane McLaren’s Norris enjoyed a good session, finishing in P8, a tenth behind Ricciardo. Sergio Perez was ninth for Racing Point with Daniil Kvyat in P10 for Scuderia Toro Rosso