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FP3 REPORT: Vettel fastest in Ferrari one-two as gap emerges to Mercedes

FP3 REPORT: Vettel fastest in Ferrari one-two as gap emerges to Mercedes

08-06-2019 17:00
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Jake Williams-Smith

Sebastian Vettel topped the final practice session ahead of qualifying for the Canadian Grand Prix. He beat teammate Charles Leclerc but the Ferrari pair had a comfortable gap to the Mercedes with Lewis Hamilton sitting 0.3s down in third.

Kevin Magnussen headed out immediately while Lando Norris headed out for a practice start as soon as the light went green for FP3.

Romain Grosjean once again left his pit box with floor paint stuck to his front right tyre leaving another glue-job for his Haas mechanics.

Those who did venture out did not stay out for long, with Robert Kubica the only driver to continue around on the very dusty Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

After a 20 minute lull, the track finally got busy with the Ferrari’s leading the way and Vettel was the first to set the benchmark.

On his first flying lap, Hamilton settled into P3 but was bumped down to fourth by his teammate Valtteri Bottas.

Lance Stroll came to a stop in the pitlane after his Racing Point car began spitting huge flames out of the exhaust. The Canadian was told it was a hydraulic leak over team radio.

Vettel and Leclerc ran again and put a half second buffer between themselves and Mercedes, with both Silver Arrows over half a second down on Vettel’s session-topping time.

Max Verstappen’s best effort could only get him into fifth place some seven tenths down on the Ferrari time from Vettel.

Grosjean was the next driver to give the walls a love tap, making contact with the Wall of Champions but got lucky with no damage to his Haas car.

Leclerc laid down the first serious marker though soon after, going 0.4s faster than his teammate on a 1:11.058s.

Hamilton was able to split the Ferrari’s on his next run but was a quarter of a second down on the top spot.

Vettel’s next lap put him top of the pile though as this time it was Leclerc locking up into turn one and ruining his third flyer.

Haas’ pace from Friday completely disappeared as Grosjean and Magnussen sat in 15th and 17th respectively.

The fight for the best of the rest spot looked to be incredibly close with Daniel Ricciardo slotting into seventh ahead of Norris, Sergio Perez and Daniil Kvyat who were all separated by just two-tenths of a second.

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