Lewis Hamilton topped the time sheets in FP3 ahead of qualifying for the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix at Silverstone. The six-time champion was one place in front of his Mercedes team mate Valtteri Bottas, as Lando Norris put his McLaren in P3 – 0.581s, behind Hamilton.

The hour-long session began with Ferrari and McLaren sharing the track as it took 25 minutes for Mercedes to emerge. With 15 minutes remaining, the Silver Arrows began their qualifying runs on soft tyres and eventually it was Hamilton who beat Bottas with a fastest lap of 1m26.621s, 0.163s faster than the best the Finn could manage.

Norris, who began the session on soft tyres, but moved to mediums with 30 minutes remaining, managed to make it to P3 on those compounds (the only driver to set his fastest lap on mediums) – which bodes well for him for qualifying which starts at 2:00pm Nigerian time. His team mate Carlos Sainz ended the session on medium tyres and finished P10, 1.006s off top spot.

Nico Hulkenberg had a fantastic practice which saw him end in P4, marginally faster than fifth-place team mate Lance Stroll.

Sixth-place Charles Leclerc and Ferrari team mate Sebastian Vettel, who ended the session in P13, took brand new engines, turbos and MGU-H units ahead of FP3 – with Vettel’s Ferrari power unit having come to a halt at the end of FP2 on Friday. According to Ferrari, the change on Leclerc's car was done “as a precaution”, with no penalty incurred for either driver since they are still within their allocation for the season.

Red bull’s Max Verstappen had to abort his first flying lap on new soft tyres with ten minutes remaining having encountered a slow-going Stroll through Maggotts/Becketts, which led to an expletive-filled rant over the radio. The Red Bull driver later improved to finish P7, ahead of team mate Alex Albon in P8.

Renault's Esteban Ocon managed a ninth-place finish over midfield rival Sainz, while Daniel Ricciardo – who was an impressive third quickest in FP2 on Friday – finished 14th overall as his final flying laps were hampered by traffic.

Pierre Gasly beat his AlphaTauri team mate by a tenth of a second to finish P11, with Daniil Kvyat P12 ahead of Vettel's Ferrari. Vettel was one of just four drivers to use mediums in the session, the others being team mate Leclerc and the McLaren duo.

Antonio Giovinazzi finished P18 for Alpha Romeo over Kimi Raikkonen, who came in 19^th.  Rounding out the standings was Kevin Magnussen,  who was 2.142s off the pace of his Haas team mate Romain Grosjean as Magnussen finished  20th.

EMIRATES FORMULA 1 70TH ANNIVERSARY GRAND PRIX 2020 - PRACTICE 3

08 Aug 2020.

The qualifying for the 70^th Anniversary race will take place at 2.00pm Nigerian time. Be sure to visit our website for more information on the qualifying.