Spanish GP: Raikkonen heads Ferrari 1-2 in final practice
Kimi Raikkonen led a Ferrari one-two in final practice for the Spanish Grand Prix as the Italian squad showed its speed again.
Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari SF70H
Sutton Images
After a subdued Friday dominated by Mercedes, Ferrari was back at the top of the times, with Raikkonen posting a 1m20.214s on soft tyres to outpace teammate Sebastian Vettel by 0.242s.
Vettel's day, however, was not without trouble, his session coming to an early finish after he stopped in the pitlane with 10 minutes remaining.
Lewis Hamilton, who had topped both of Friday's session, had to settle for third place in the quickest Mercedes, ahead of teammate Valtteri Bottas, who managed just seven laps.
Bottas' day was off to a difficult start as Mercedes worked on his car following an electrical issue that made the team break the curfew to rectify it. He then had an older engine fitted after a water leak was discovered.
As a result, the Russian GP winner spent the majority of the session in the garage.
Red Bull duo Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo finished fifth and sixth as the usual order was restored at the front of the field.
Nico Hulkenberg continued to shine in the Renault with the seventh fastest time, ahead of Williams' Felipe Massa and local heroes Carlos Sainz (Toro Rosso) and Fernando Alonso (McLaren).
Alonso, aiming to make up for the lost time on Friday, was the first driver to register a time early on, but was soon demoted by Esteban Ocon in the Force India fitted with medium tyres.
Raikkonen was the first of the frontrunners to complete a timed lap, the Finn posting a 1m22.494s using mediums at the 15-minute mark. Teammate Vettel slotted into second a few seconds later.
With 36 minutes to go, Hamilton moved to second with his first run on medium tyres, the Briton over three tenths slower than Raikkonen despite setting the fastest time in the middle sector.
Verstappen only set his first time of the day at the halfway point after a slow start, jumping to third in the medium-shod Red Bull. He improved his time, but not his position, on the second lap of his run, but was still over six tenths of Raikkonen's pace.
With some 22 minutes left on the clock, Raikkonen improved to a 1m20.214s as he ran with Pirelli's soft tyres, opening a gap of over 2.5 seconds to his closest rival before Vettel used the yellow-marked rubber to jump up to second, 0.242s off the pace.
The German had to return to the pits without completing the planned second flyer, however, as Ferrari detected a problem with his car and called him in.
Hamilton's first run on softs with 17 minutes remaining produced the third quickest time, 0.381s behind Raikkonen.
Vettel tried to return to the track with 10 minutes left, but - as it had happened on Friday - the Ferrari stopped in the pitlane and needed to be wheeled back into the garage by the mechanics.
The team began working on the car right away and Vettel did not return to the track.
Bottas finally left the pits with eight minutes remaining, the Finn going straight to soft tyres to complete a qualifying simulation. His first flyer put him in fourth position, six tenths off the pace.
Free practice 3 results
Cla | Driver | Chassis | Engine | Laps | Time | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | Ferrari | 20 | 1'20.214 | |
2 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | Ferrari | 7 | 1'20.456 | 0.242 |
3 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | Mercedes | 12 | 1'20.595 | 0.381 |
4 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | Mercedes | 7 | 1'20.868 | 0.654 |
5 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | TAG | 14 | 1'21.025 | 0.811 |
6 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull | TAG | 15 | 1'21.249 | 1.035 |
7 | Nico Hulkenberg | Renault | Renault | 13 | 1'21.670 | 1.456 |
8 | Felipe Massa | Williams | Mercedes | 19 | 1'21.746 | 1.532 |
9 | Carlos Sainz Jr. | Toro Rosso | Renault | 19 | 1'21.835 | 1.621 |
10 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren | Honda | 16 | 1'22.093 | 1.879 |
11 | Romain Grosjean | Haas | Ferrari | 21 | 1'22.128 | 1.914 |
12 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | Ferrari | 12 | 1'22.214 | 2.000 |
13 | Sergio Perez | Force India | Mercedes | 19 | 1'22.237 | 2.023 |
14 | Esteban Ocon | Force India | Mercedes | 22 | 1'22.297 | 2.083 |
15 | Daniil Kvyat | Toro Rosso | Renault | 15 | 1'22.391 | 2.177 |
16 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber | Ferrari | 20 | 1'22.513 | 2.299 |
17 | Lance Stroll | Williams | Mercedes | 19 | 1'22.574 | 2.360 |
18 | Jolyon Palmer | Renault | Renault | 13 | 1'22.755 | 2.541 |
19 | Stoffel Vandoorne | McLaren | Honda | 15 | 1'22.853 | 2.639 |
20 | Pascal Wehrlein | Sauber | Ferrari | 19 | 1'22.974 | 2.760 |
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