Lewis Hamilton took the lead in FP3 at the Canadian Grand Prix with Max Verstappen in second, as Mercedes demonstrated a change of speed in the space of a single lap at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.
George Russell was third, Lance Stroll fourth and Oscar Piastri completed the top five, but Mercedes driver Hamilton, a seven-time Montreal winner, kept his lead at 0.374 seconds on Verstappen, who recovered from an ERS problem on Friday to put Red Bull in second place.
Lewis Hamilton tops FP3 as Canadian Grand Prix qualifying preparations continue
After mixed conditions that hindered drivers on Friday, FP3 started in completely dry conditions in Montreal on Saturday, with drivers quickly taking to the track for their final practice period.
Max Verstappen oversteered into the final chicane on his first flying lap and flew over the kerb, after which he said his Red Bull’s steering was “very strange for me”.
After hitting the wall in FP1 on Friday, Zhou Guanyu locked up the rear at Turn 1, sending his Sauber spinning and then sliding backwards into the barriers on the entry to Turn 2, causing the red flag to be shown six minutes into the session.
However, there was only a short pause while Zhou’s car was pulled out and returned to the pit lane, allowing the other drivers to quickly resume their FP3 programmes.
With drivers exploring the limits in perhaps the first time this weekend in typical conditions, Alex Albon ran onto the grass at the Turns 8 and 9 chicane, blaming braking problems at the time.
Fernando Alonso’s 1m14.870s on the hard tyre was the fastest time in the first 20 minutes, improving by 0.4 seconds to a 1m14.445s as drivers looked to make up for lost time after rain hampered running on Friday.
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As a result, the teams are looking to take a split approach in free practice, with Ferrari confirming midway through FP3 that they would do so with Carlos Sainz on the soft tyre and Charles Leclerc on the medium, while Red Bull were aiming for longer running pace and sister team RB for qualifying pace.
Same for Williams, with Logan Sargent taking purple in the first and second sectors to lead with a time of 1:14.355s, but Sainz couldn’t beat him on the soft tyre.
However, the American’s stay at the top of the leaderboard didn’t last long, as more drivers began to switch to soft tyres and George Russell quickly overtook Sargent.
Single laps were run one after the other, with Lewis Hamilton setting the quickest time with a 1:13.464, just 0.011 seconds ahead of Lando Norris going into the final third of FP3, and drivers and teams then turned their attention to qualifying.
The first collision with the Champions’ Wall came late in the session, when Williams’ Alex Albon damaged his suspension exiting Turn 14, hit the final kerb hard, went off the track and touched the final wall. Albon continued on, albeit slowly, and was able to bring his car back into the pit lane.
More flying laps followed towards the end of the session, with Russell initially outpacing his Mercedes team-mate Hamilton before the seven-time world champion was 0.7 seconds faster than anyone else, setting a time of 1m 12.549s.
As FP3 drew to a close, his rivals tried to close the gap on Hamilton but it was Verstappen who got closest as others overtook each other, but Saturday’s qualifying session at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve was an unpredictable one and he finished within 0.4 seconds of the Mercedes driver.
2024 Canadian Grand Prix: FP3 standings
1. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:12.549
2 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing +0.374
3 George Russell Mercedes +0.408
4 Lance Stroll Aston Martin +0.477
5 Oscar Piastri McLaren +0.717
6 Daniel Ricciardo RB +0.730
7 Lando Norris McLaren +0.744
8 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin +0.791
9 Sergio Perez Red Bull Racing +0.793
10 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +0.800
11 Kevin Magnussen Haas +0.890
12 Carlos Sainz Ferrari +1.021
13 Valtteri Bottas Kick Sauber +1.093
14 Logan Sargent-Williams +1.114
15 Yuki Tsunoda RB +1.167
16 Pierre Gasly Alpine +1.188
17 Nico Hulkenberg Haas +1.228
18 Alexander Albon Williams +1.331
19 Esteban Ocon Alpine +1.526
20 Zhou Guanyu Kick Sauber +6.107
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