British GP: Hamilton tops interrupted FP3 as Ericsson shunts heavily

The Sauber crashed against the wall on in the inside after Stowe with some 20 minutes left, forcing the session to be stopped while his car was recovered.

As the barrier suffered significant damage, work had to be carried out for several minutes, the action resuming with five minutes to go.

Hamilton ended on top with a 1:30.904 set on soft tyres, outpacing teammate Nico Rosberg by less than a tenth, the German returning to action after missing all of yesterday's second practice.

Red Bull was again Mercedes' closest challenger, with Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen third and fourth respectively.

Sebastian Vettel finished in fifth in the quickest Ferrari, but the German lamented suffering gearbox problems as he completed his final flying lap.

"I think we failed the gearbox again," said Vettel.

Teammate Kimi Raikkonen wound up ninth behind Valtteri Bottas, Fernando Alonso and Nico Hulkenberg.

Once more, the session kicked off under cloudy skies and on a damp track, having rained ahead of the start of practice.

That meant a slow start to the running, with drivers initially taking to the track on full wets and intermediates.

The slicks appeared before the 15-minute mark, but it was not until the session was 20 minutes old that the first time was registered, Rosberg posting a 1:42.6 on hard tyres.

The German wasted no time trying to make up for the lack of running yesterday and was quick to improve to a 1:33.591 as Vettel moved up to second.

The Ferrari driver then went quickest with a run on mediums, outpacing Rosberg by 0.388s.

Rosberg returned to the top with 27 minutes to go as he became one of the first drivers to put on soft tyres, but he was quickly relegated to second by Hamilton's 1:31.286, set right before Felipe Nasr spun his Sauber at Club.

Just a few minutes later there was further drama for the Swiss squad as teammate Marcus Ericsson crashed heavily coming out of Stowe.

The Swede ran slightly wide and lost the rear of his car after going over the kerb, which may have been damp as a result of earlier rain.

His car impacted the tyre barriers at very high speed, the steering wheel even coming off as a result of the crash.

Ericsson climbed out of the car unaided, but the session was red-flagged and marshals had to start repairing the tyre wall.

As they worked on that, light rain hit the circuit, but the action continued with five minutes remaining the clock.

Most drivers jumped onto the track with soft tyres on, and Rosberg moved to P1 with a 1:30.967, over two tenths quicker than Hamilton.

The Briton, however, fought back and went quickest by 0.063s.

Cla	Driver	Chassis	Engine	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval
1	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	Mercedes	9	1'30.904
2	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	Mercedes	17	1'30.967	0.063	0.063
3	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull	TAG	6	1'31.488	0.584	0.521
4	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	TAG	7	1'31.561	0.657	0.073
5	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	Ferrari	10	1'32.049	1.145	0.488
6	Valtteri Bottas	Williams	Mercedes	14	1'32.736	1.832	0.687
7	Fernando Alonso	McLaren	Honda	10	1'32.754	1.850	0.018
8	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India	Mercedes	13	1'32.798	1.894	0.044
9	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	Ferrari	12	1'32.833	1.929	0.035
10	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Toro Rosso	Ferrari	9	1'32.889	1.985	0.056
11	Esteban Gutierrez	Haas	Ferrari	11	1'32.895	1.991	0.006
12	Jenson Button	McLaren	Honda	10	1'33.042	2.138	0.147
13	Romain Grosjean	Haas	Ferrari	12	1'33.344	2.440	0.302
14	Sergio Perez	Force India	Mercedes	12	1'33.361	2.457	0.017
15	Felipe Massa	Williams	Mercedes	13	1'33.440	2.536	0.079
16	Daniil Kvyat	Toro Rosso	Ferrari	9	1'33.538	2.634	0.098
17	Felipe Nasr	Sauber	Ferrari	9	1'33.710	2.806	0.172
18	Jolyon Palmer	Renault	Renault	12	1'33.769	2.865	0.059
19	Kevin Magnussen	Renault	Renault	9	1'34.049	3.145	0.280
20	Rio Haryanto	Manor	Mercedes	13	1'34.471	3.567	0.422
21	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber	Ferrari	7	1'34.551	3.647	0.080