Practice report
Formula 1 German GP
German GP: Leclerc tops FP3, Mercedes off the pace
Charles Leclerc was fastest again for Ferrari in third practice for the 2019 German Grand Prix, outpacing the quickest Mercedes by half a second.
Stuart Codling
Published: Jul 27, 2019, 11:12 AM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Leclerc’s 1m12.380s lap, set during his second run on soft tyres, stood to the end of the session and was 0.264s faster than teammate Sebastian Vettel’s best.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen split the Ferraris with a 1m12.548s as Mercedes came up short. Valtteri Bottas was 0.510s off Leclerc’s benchmark time, while Lewis Hamilton was sixth overall, 0.585s down and slower than the Haas of Kevin Magnussen.
An overnight change in the weather as the sweltering heat gave way to thunderstorms made for vastly different track conditions, with ambients of 27C and a track temperature that hovered around 40C, well below Friday’s peaks. Even so, there was little urgency at the beginning of the session and 10 minutes passed before anyone set a timed lap.
Any suggestion that Ferrari’s relative strength might diminish in the cooler conditions was quickly dispelled by Leclerc, who went quickest of all in the initial running with a 1m12.736s he set during a six-lap stint on the soft-compound tyres. Vettel’s best effort on a similar run plan was half a second off.
At this point both Mercedes drivers were focusing on race simulations but Hamilton set a tidy time of 1m13.463s at the beginning of a 15-lap run on the softs. Bottas was just over two tenths shy on a similar run plan, although his stint began with an off-track moment at Turn 2.
Red Bull’s pace on the medium tyres was very respectable early in the session - or at least Verstappen’s was, since his best lap was marginally faster than the soft-shod Hamilton. Pierre Gasly, whose car was rebuilt around a new tub after his crash in FP2, was half a second adrift of his teammate after their first runs.
On the soft rubber Verstappen was even more punchy. While the Ferraris made incremental improvements on their second soft-tyre runs - Leclerc to 1m12.380s, Vettel to 1m12.644s - Verstappen split them with his 1m12.548s.
The Mercedes drivers continued to struggle to match Leclerc on their second soft-tyre runs as Bottas circulated half a second off the benchmark lap and Hamilton had a time struck off for violating track limits.
The results of the session will have generated more intrigue for Haas, which is attempting to benchmark its latest developments against the troublesome VF-19’s early specification by running Romain Grosjean with the Australian Grand Prix aero package. In FP2 Magnussen was 1.29s off Grosjean’s best, but in today’s cooler conditions he was initially over two-tenths faster than Grosjean over the course of a similar seven-lap run plan.
He then put in a 1m12.893s that was good for fifth overall while Grosjean was 10th fastest on 1m13.378s.
Behind Hamilton there was a substantial time gap as the latter portion of the top 10 came up nearly a second off the frontrunning pace. While Kimi Raikkonen was ‘best of the rest’ early on, he was trumped by late efforts from Gasly and McLaren’s Carlos Sainz.
Practice results
Cla # Driver Chassis Laps Time Gap 1 16 Charles Leclerc
Ferrari 18 1'12.380 2 33 Max Verstappen
Red Bull 12 1'12.548 0.168 3 5 Sebastian Vettel
Ferrari 18 1'12.644 0.264 4 77 Valtteri Bottas
Mercedes 24 1'12.890 0.510 5 20 Kevin Magnussen
Haas 13 1'12.893 0.513 6 44 Lewis Hamilton
Mercedes 22 1'12.965 0.585 7 55 Carlos Sainz Jr.
McLaren 18 1'13.300 0.920 8 10 Pierre Gasly
Red Bull 17 1'13.324 0.944 9 7 Kimi Raikkonen
Alfa Romeo 18 1'13.351 0.971 10 8 Romain Grosjean
Haas 15 1'13.378 0.998 11 11 Sergio Perez
Racing Point 15 1'13.476 1.096 12 27 Nico Hulkenberg
Renault 19 1'13.496 1.116 13 23 Alex Albon
Toro Rosso 24 1'13.554 1.174 14 4 Lando Norris
McLaren 15 1'13.556 1.176 15 99 Antonio Giovinazzi
Alfa Romeo 16 1'13.671 1.291 16 18 Lance Stroll
Racing Point 15 1'13.672 1.292 17 26 Daniil Kvyat
Toro Rosso 21 1'13.767 1.387 18 3 Daniel Ricciardo
Renault 20 1'13.816 1.436 19 88 Robert Kubica
Williams 20 1'15.540 3.160 20 63 George Russell
Williams 11 1'15.824 3.444 View full results
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Ricciardo doesn't share Hulkenberg's view on Renault progress
Next article Brown: Sainz, Norris giving McLaren edge over midfield rivals
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Stuart Codling
Why it's now Oliver Bearman versus Rafael Camara for the next Ferrari vacancy
Formula 1
Formula 1
United States GP
12 h
Why it's now Oliver Bearman versus Rafael Camara for the next Ferrari vacancy
F1 Singapore GP live commentary and updates: Max Verstappen cruises to victory
Formula 1
Formula 1
Singapore GP
F1 Singapore GP live commentary and updates: Max Verstappen cruises to victory
More from
Charles Leclerc
F1 United States GP: Charles Leclerc pips Max Verstappen to top FP1
Formula 1
Formula 1
United States GP
1 h
F1 United States GP: Charles Leclerc pips Max Verstappen to top FP1
Charles Leclerc admits he missed a chance against Max Verstappen – but not the obvious one
Formula 1
Formula 1
Singapore GP
Charles Leclerc admits he missed a chance against Max Verstappen – but not the obvious one
More from
Scuderia Ferrari
Charles Leclerc and Pecco Bagnaia: From kings to princes
MotoGP
MotoGP
Charles Leclerc and Pecco Bagnaia: From kings to princes
Sainz blasts "most unfair penalty ever", seeks stewards' explanation
Formula 1
Formula 1
Australian GP
Sainz blasts "most unfair penalty ever", seeks stewards' explanation
Calado: "Difficult" for WEC Hypercar newcomers "to win straight off"
WEC
WEC
Calado: "Difficult" for WEC Hypercar newcomers "to win straight off"
Latest news
Exploring Ferrari's 'less than a tenth' US GP update package
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
United States GP
6 min
Exploring Ferrari's 'less than a tenth' US GP update package
F1 United States GP: Charles Leclerc pips Max Verstappen to top FP1
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
United States GP
1 h
F1 United States GP: Charles Leclerc pips Max Verstappen to top FP1
George Russell reveals he lost sleep over his own driving, not the F1 championship
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
United States GP
2 h
George Russell reveals he lost sleep over his own driving, not the F1 championship
F1 United States GP live commentary and updates - Ferrari leads FP1
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
United States GP
3 h
F1 United States GP live commentary and updates - Ferrari leads FP1
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe