Lewis Hamilton appears to have the upper hand in the final practice session, but by a very slim margin. The rest of the field is incredibly mixed up, but this may have been due to the session being red flagged early. Esteban Ocon and Kevin Magnussen attempted to occupy the same part of the track at the same time and the Renault ended up in the wall.
Report
Lando Norris set the first time over 10 minutes into the session and despite the quiet start, a flurry of cars took to the track. The majority of drivers had the soft tyre bolted on to their car for qualifying simulations and the true pace was starting to become clear.
Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas leap to the top of the standings, with Bottas taking early control. The track evolution was strong throughout the session and Bottas managed to improve his time by over half a second. This was eventually pipped by Hamilton, but only by 0.1 of a second.
Max Verstappen took his usual 3rd, but managed to close the gap to half a second, much closer than the previous sessions. Alex Albon, in the other Red Bull, came 9th but was a stark 0.6 seconds from his team-mate. Charles Leclerc again outperformed Sebastian Vettel by over half a second, but neither of the Ferraris managed a completely clear run.
The midfield continues to be too close to call. The advantage that Racing Point appeared to have in Britain has diminished slightly and McLaren seem to be the strongest of the remaining teams. Carlos Sainz took a surprising 2nd part way through the session, but later dropped to 4th. Lando Norris managed a disappointing 15th, but was not able to finish his final flying lap. Racing Point are still in the mix as both cars were comfortably in the top 10. Sergio Perez continued his strong comeback, his 5th place lap-time was 0.2 quicker than that of team-mate Lance Stroll.
Pierre Gasly managed to finish an impressive 7th, the Frenchman remains one of the most consistent drivers of the season. Daniil Kvyat was not able to match him, 15th place and over half a second behind. Renault took 10th and 11th, but Ocon’s woes continued as he crashed his Renault. This was mainly due to Kevin Magnussen swerving in front after overtaking him. This may result in a grid penalty for the Haas driver. This brought out the red flag and ended the session prematurely. Romain Grosjean’s strong performance yesterday was not replicated and the Frenchman finished 13th. Rounding out the end of the grid were Alfa Romeo and Williams. Alfa Romeo appear to have the advantage so far, but both teams are significantly behind the midfield battle.
It looks set for another Mercedes 1-2, but as temperatures rise, qualifying may provide some unexpected results. Carlos Sainz will be looking for a strong home performance, but it is currently too close to call.
Featured Image Credit: @F1 Official Twitter
