FP3: Leclerc tops final practice, Bortoleto causes red flag

Ferrari continued to impress at the British Grand Prix weekend, with Charles Leclerc setting the benchmark in the third and final practice session at Silverstone. F1Technical's senior writer Balazs Szabo reports on Free Practice 3.

Ferrari's Charles Leclerc displayed strong pace on the opening day at the British Grand Prix, and he was able to carry over that fine form to Saturday.

The Monégasque driver set a rapid lap of 1m25.498s - the quickest lap of the weekend so far - to end up fastest over championship leader Oscar Piastri.

Reigning champion Max Verstappen complained about his heavily updated RB21 yesterday, but the brand-new floor looked to bring an improvement today as the Dutchman took third in FP3.

Lando Norris took fourth just over a tenth behind Leclerc, with Yuki Tsunoda having achieved an encouraging fifth for Red Bull. Oliver Bearman took sixth despite a moment late on when he misjudged his entry to the pit lane and damaged his front wing.

Williams struggled for pace yesterday, but Alexander Albon and Carlos Sainz put in a more encouraging effort to end up seventh and twelfth quickest in final practice.

George Russell was the fastest of the Mercedes cars on a so far difficult weekend for the Silver Arrows, placing eighth while his team-mate Andrea Kimi Antonelli ended up 14th.

The Racing Bulls duo of Isack Hadjar and Liam Lawson completed the top ten while nine-time Lewis Hamilton found himself down in P11. However, the seven-time world champion was on course to set the fastest lap of the session, but he was forced to abort his lap due to red flags brought out for debris.

The Aston Martins and Alpines brought up the rear of the field– Fernando Alonso placing in front of Franco Colapinto, LanceStroll and Pierre Gasly.