Hungary, FP3: Hamilton quickest in final practice for Hungarian GP

Lewis Hamilton narrowly beat title rival Max Verstappen to top spot in final practice for the Hungarian Grand Prix, with the defending champion Mercedes driver lapping the Hungaroring just 0.088s faster than the Red Bull man. Valtteri Bottas finished third a little over two tenths of a second off his Mercedes team-mate’s pace.

Hamilton was to the fore early on and after top spot had been traded between Ferrarir’s Carlos Sainz and Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Räikkönen in the opening exchanges, the seven-time champion went well clear at the top of the order with a lap of 1:18.587s. He pitted immediately after the attempt, at which point his pit crew removed a pin stuck in his front-right tyre.

Returning to the track Hamilton then lowered the benchmark to 1:18.204 before Verstappen emerged for his first run of the morning and immediately jumped to top spot with a lap of 1:17.510s, almost seven tenths of a second clear of Hamilton.

However, the Dutchman’s stay at the top was brief as Bottas was close behind on track and when the Finn crossed the line he stopped the clock at 1:17.428s.

That was how it stood at the half way mark and following a pause to plan for the qualifying sims, Lando Norris was the first to venture out on new softs. The McLaren driver immediately vaulted from P9 to P3 giving an indication of the improvement to be had.

Bottas then reappeared and improved on his earlier time to set a new target of 1:17.055s, but then the action was halted as Mick Schumacher crashed and the red flags were flown.

The German rookie lost control of the rear of his Haas in Turn 11 and slid

backwards at high-speed. He broadsided the barriers causing substantial damage to the left side of his car.

When the session resumed Verstappen was swiftloy out on track and he moved back to the top spot with a lap of 1:16.914. Hamilton would not be denied, however, and he managed to edge past the Red Bull with a best lap of 1:16.826.

Bottas held onto third ahead of Sainz and Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc, with Norris sixth ahead of Sergio Pérez in the second Red Bull. Daniel Ricciardo was eighth for McLaren ahead of Alpine’s Fernando Alonso, with Lance Stroll rounding out the top 10 for Aston Martin.