Silverstone, FP3: Leclerc goes quickest in rain-affected session

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc topped the timesheet in the final free practice session ahead of the 2023 FIA Formula 1 British Grand Prix, beating Williams’ Alex Albon by just under two tenths of a second, with Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso in a session affected by rain.

Early in the session championship leader Max Verstappen set the pace with a medium-tyre lap of 1:28.836 before Mercedes Lewis Hamilton got close, just 0.13s slower than the Dutchman to take P2, though the seven-time champion was on soft tyres.

Verstappen then improved to 1:28.266, but he was ousted from top spot by Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz who posted a 1:27.964 on soft tyres to close out the opening quarter of the session.

Hamilton then moved to the top with a lap of 1:27.948s, but Leclerc then claimed P1 with a full suite of purple sectors and a time of 1:27.419 to sit more than half a second clear of Hamilton.

The threat of the rain that had hung in the air since the beginning of the session then began to materialise. However, the first drops couldn’t prevent Albon from rocketing up the timesheet to P2 with a lap of 1:25.592, set on softs. That left the Williams driver 0.173s off Leclerc. Alonso then rose to third, almost two tenths off Albon and Alpine’s Pierre Gasly slipped past Hamilton to claim P4.

The rain began to intensify and the field retreated to the pit lane to monitor conditions. As the shower weakened McLaren’s Lando Norris tested the track on Intermediate tyres before Mercedes’ George Russell went out on the same rubber and determined that it would soon be good enough for slick tyres. Norris gave the soft tyres a run but soon headed back to the sanctuary of the pit lane leaving the track to Alpine’s Esteban Ocon and Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas who ran on Intermediates. They were joined in the later stages of the hour by Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes who all conducted information gathering laps on the Intermediates.

With Hamilton fifth, sixth place went to Sainz, with Logan Sargeant seventh in the fleet Williams FW45. Verstappen’s best lap on mediums left him in eighth place, ahead of Russell, while AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda rounded out the top 10.