Sebastian Vettel topped the timesheet in Saturday’s final free practice session, edging Lewis Hamilton by 0.217s in a session dominated by a Ferrari-Mercedes quartet.
Valtteri Bottas and Kimi Raikkonen lined up behind their leaders while Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo were unable to challenge their rivals.
2018 Brazilian Grand Prix Free Practice 3 times
1
Sebastian Vettel
Ferrari
1:07.948s
17
2
Lewis Hamilton
Mercedes
1:08.165s
+ 0.217s
15
3
Valtteri Bottas
Mercedes
1:08.465s
+ 0.517s
23
4
Kimi Räikkönen
Ferrari
1:08.490s
+ 0.542s
17
5
Max Verstappen
Red Bull
1:08.733s
+ 0.785s
12
6
Daniel Ricciardo
Red Bull
1:08.788s
+ 0.840s
12
7
Kevin Magnussen
Haas
1:09.146s
+ 1.198s
14
8
Romain Grosjean
Haas
1:09.257s
+ 1.309s
16
9
Pierre Gasly
Toro Rosso
1:09.402s
+ 1.454s
22
10
Charles Leclerc
Sauber
1:09.448s
+ 1.500s
21
11
Nico Hülkenberg
Renault
1:09.461s
+ 1.513s
19
12
Esteban Ocon
Force India
1:09.588s
+ 1.640s
18
13
Marcus Ericsson
Sauber
1:09.808s
+ 1.860s
23
14
Carlos Sainz
Renault
1:09.864s
+ 1.916s
17
15
Sergey Sirotkin
Williams
1:09.885s
+ 1.937s
14
16
Brendon Hartley
Toro Rosso
1:09.985s
+ 2.037s
18
17
Lance Stroll
Williams
1:10.001s
+ 2.053s
17
18
Fernando Alonso
McLaren
1:10.020s
+ 2.072s
15
19
Sergio Pérez
Force India
1:10.116s
+ 2.168s
18
20
Stoffel Vandoorne
McLaren
1:10.289s
+ 2.341s
16
Wednesday at Interlagos dawned with typically Brazilian weather – warm and cloudy – and the usual threat of rain, but drivers made their way to a dry track for the final 60 minutes of free practice before this afternoon’s crucial qualifying shootout.
Sauber’s Charles Leclerc and Marcus Ericsson were the first to head out but Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen punched in the first relevant time with a 1m09.424s on supersofts.
The Finn was quickly overhauled however by Sebastian Vettel who shaved 0.8s off his tea mate’s time.
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Gearbox change forces grid penalty on Ocon
Worries erupted in the Mercedes camp when Hamilton was called back to the pits where a diagnosis eventually revealed a dislodged breather pipe. The issues was diligently dealt with by the Silver Arrows squad, the Brit rejoining the action after a 20-minute delay.
In the interim, Bottas was snapping at Vettel’s but unable to put in a faster lap than the German.
Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo slotted himself into fourth before Hamilton took up the spot to complete a Ferrari/Mercedes quartet.
With 20 minutes of running time left, Vettel put his head time and clocked in with a 1m07.948s lap under his belt that represented a new lap record of Interlagos
A lull in track activity encouraged Hamilton to tempt a lap on the supersofts. The effort brought an improvement but the Mercedes driver was still two tenths down on Vettel.
The indication in FP3 pointed to a two-way fight between Ferrari and Mercedes as the pair appeared out of reach of Red Bull, with Max Verstappen – the faster of the bulls – outpaced by 0.785s by Vettel.
Behind the top-six, Kevin Magnussen concluded the session as best of the rest, edging Haas team mate Romain Grosjean, while Toro Rosso’s Pierre Gasly and Sauber’s Charles Leclerc rounded off the top-ten.
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