Belgian GP: Raikkonen leads Ferrari 1-2 in FP3

Quickest in FP1 and a close second to Lewis Hamilton in FP2, Raikkonen set the fastest recorded lap in the current configuration of the legendary Spa-Francorchamps circuit, the Finn improving on Toyota driver Jarno Trulli's benchmark from 2009.

As rain in the build-up to FP3 had left wet patches around the circuit, teams initially opted to limit themselves to intermediate-tyre installation laps – putting no laptimes on the board until a quarter of the way into the 60-minute session.

Soon after Toro Rosso's Daniil Kvyat kicked off the meaningful running with a lap on supersofts, Hamilton picked up where he left off on Friday, going top with a 1m45.480s effort on the same tyre.

But the Briton was down to third at halfway point, leapfrogged by both Ferraris.

Raikkonen had first lapped a tenth off Hamilton and then cleared the Mercedes man with a 1m42.422s effort, while Vettel slotted into second, 0.036s off, as the frontrunners' supersoft runs concluded.

Red Bull was first among the big teams to send its drivers out on ultrasofts, but Daniel Ricciardo's first flying lap on the compound was derailed by yellow flags – brought out by junior team driver Kvyat, who parked his Toro Rosso to the side of the Kemmel straight after reporting a loss of power.

When the car was cleared away – a small fire developing in the process - Ricciardo took the top spot with a 1m45.286s lap, before teammate Max Verstappen improved the benchmark to a 1m45.034s.

But the Austrian team's time at the top was short-lived, as Raikkonen clocked in a 1m43.916s – the first sub-1m44s lap on the track's current configuration – with his first flyer.

Hamilton moved up to second, two tenths off, only for Vettel to reinstate a Ferrari 1-2 with a lap 0.001s better.

There would be no further improvements among the top three – but their margin of almost a second over their nearest rivals remained until the chequered flag.

Verstappen and Ricciardo made no gains either, finishing fourth and sixth, split by the Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas, who distinctly trailled Hamilton on both supersoft and ultrasoft pace.

Renault's Jolyon Palmer was a standout performer in seventh, just two tenths off Ricciardo and more than half a second clear of 11th-placed teammate Hulkenberg.

Force India's Sergio Perez was eighth, with Toro Rosso's Carlos Sainz and McLaren's Fernando Alonso making up the top 10.

Williams driver Felipe Massa, returning to action after an FP1 shunt severely limited his Friday running, was one spot behind 15th-placed teammate Lance Stroll – and is under investigation for ignoring double-waved yellow flags.

Cla	Driver	Chassis	Engine	Laps	Time	Gap
1	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	Ferrari	17	1'43.916
2	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	Ferrari	15	1'44.113	0.197
3	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	Mercedes	11	1'44.114	0.198
4	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	TAG	13	1'45.034	1.118
5	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	Mercedes	18	1'45.230	1.314
6	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull	TAG	18	1'45.286	1.370
7	Jolyon Palmer	Renault	Renault	11	1'45.491	1.575
8	Sergio Perez	Force India	Mercedes	14	1'45.857	1.941
9	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Toro Rosso	Renault	18	1'45.942	2.026
10	Fernando Alonso	McLaren	Honda	12	1'46.060	2.144
11	Nico Hulkenberg	Renault	Renault	11	1'46.064	2.148
12	Esteban Ocon	Force India	Mercedes	14	1'46.179	2.263
13	Romain Grosjean	Haas	Ferrari	14	1'46.196	2.280
14	Stoffel Vandoorne	McLaren	Honda	14	1'46.300	2.384
15	Lance Stroll	Williams	Mercedes	18	1'46.620	2.704
16	Felipe Massa	Williams	Mercedes	22	1'46.667	2.751
17	Kevin Magnussen	Haas	Ferrari	13	1'46.690	2.774
18	Daniil Kvyat	Toro Rosso	Renault	7	1'47.903	3.987
19	Pascal Wehrlein	Sauber	Ferrari	17	1'48.296	4.380
20	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber	Ferrari	6	1'48.300	4.384