FP3: Vettel leads Ferrari charge ahead of qualifying

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F1 Grand Prix, GP Canada, Circuit Gilles Villeneuveca

Sebastian Vettel topped the times in the third and final practice session, ahead of qualifying for the Canadian Grand Prix. His Ferrari team mate Charles Leclerc was a close second, with Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton third fastest.

The session got off to a slow start, with nobody really eager to go out early. Robert Kubica was eventually the first one to do a timed lap, though he immediately locked up the front left wheel in the approach to Turn 1. Fortunately for him, he was using one of Friday's old soft sets.

It took about 20 minutes until the front runners showed up, with Verstappen the last one to venture out on track. 10 minutes later, it resulted in Ferrari topping the leader board, with Vettel fastest, just 0.039s ahead of team mate Leclerc. The Mercedes duo slotted into third and fourth, similarly on the back of some soft tyre runs. Verstappen and Gasly used the medium tyres and were around a second down on the pace setter.

The times were sharepened when a new set of softs were taken into use, but as Mercedes got closer, it was still Ferrari who retained the advantage. And once again, it was Leclerc who proved fastest, until Vettel found another little bit after a few attempts.

Using softs, Verstappen and Gasly got stuck at around 1s while Daniel Ricciardo slotted into 7th at the very end. Lando Norris made sure McLaren was present in the top 10, reversing the order from Friday when Carlos Sainz was clearly the faster McLaren.

Sergio Perez and Daniil Kvyat completed the top 10.

The second Racing Point car of Lance Stroll wasn't seen again after his installation lap which he completed with smoke coming out of the back of his car. The home hera therefore completed the session without a timed lap.

Results

Pos.No.DriverCarTimeGapLaps
15Sebastian VettelFerrari1:10.843-19
216Charles LeclercFerrari1:10.982+0.139s17
344Lewis HamiltonMercedes1:11.236+0.393s20
477Valtteri BottasMercedes1:11.531+0.688s19
533Max VerstappenRed Bull Racing Honda1:11.842+0.999s15
610Pierre GaslyRed Bull Racing Honda1:11.914+1.071s19
73Daniel RicciardoRenault1:12.045+1.202s16
84Lando NorrisMcLaren Renault1:12.154+1.311s17
911Sergio PerezRacing Point Bwt Mercedes1:12.175+1.332s17
1026Daniil KvyatScuderia Toro Rosso Honda1:12.298+1.455s23
1127Nico HulkenbergRenault1:12.305+1.462s17
1220Kevin MagnussenHaas Ferrari1:12.337+1.494s17
1355Carlos SainzMcLaren Renault1:12.399+1.556s21
1423Alexander AlbonScuderia Toro Rosso Honda1:12.423+1.580s20
1599Antonio GiovinazziAlfa Romeo Racing Ferrari1:12.627+1.784s24
167Kimi RäikkönenAlfa Romeo Racing Ferrari1:12.708+1.865s19
178Romain GrosjeanHaas Ferrari1:13.197+2.354s11
1863George RussellWilliams Mercedes1:13.966+3.123s17
1988Robert KubicaWilliams Mercedes1:14.426+3.583s24
2018Lance StrollRacing Point Bwt Mercedes--1