FP3 report | Ferrari take control ahead of German Grand Prix qualifying

Charles Leclerc and Ferrari have taken control over Mercedes ahead of qualifying for the German Grand Prix. Leclerc's fastest time of 1:12.380 was quick enough to supply Ferrari with a hat-trick of fastest laps in practice. Sebastian Vettel couldn't give Ferrari their third 1-2 as Max Verstappen split the two Ferraris. 

In the middle of the session, the Mercedes mechanics gave Lewis Hamilton a set-up change. Concerned by the fact Ferrari were so far ahead, Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas both pushed hard late on but couldn't topple Ferrari. 

Verstappen was strong enough to show that Red Bull is in contention for pole position as he pushed himself into P2 late on. Hamilton pushed hard on his first lap following the set-up changes, but it wasn't enough. 

A myriad of lap times were deleted for pushing track limits. Hamilton's first lap after his change was deleted. 

The 'best of the rest' battle is tight, but McLaren and Haas seem to be leading. Meanwhile, Renault struggled through the final practice session as Daniel Ricciardo and Nico Hulkenberg finished outside the top 10. Ricciardo could only manage P18. 

At the end of FP3, @Charles_Leclerc tops the times @Max33Verstappen P2, Vettel P3@KevinMagnussen splits the Mercedes in P5!#F1 #GermanGP pic.twitter.com/26yxDnLqHh

— Formula 1 (@F1) July 27, 2019

How it happened 

Carlos Sainz controlled the first 15 minutes of the session as his 1:14.152 was enough to put him on top for the opening part of FP3. That was until Hamilton came out and produced a quality lap. 

That quality lap wasn't as good as Leclerc's opening lap. He produced a 1:13.117 to lay another Ferrari marker down. The two Mercedes cars were driving attacking laps, but couldn't get anywhere near the times set by Vettel and Leclerc. 

Kimi Raikkonen and Alex Albon were both punching above their weight for some time. Both drivers put themselves into the top 5 for a while as they both could end up challenging Renault and McLaren for best of the rest later this afternoon. 

In the last 15 minutes, Mercedes engineers took off Hamilton's sidepods. The set-up could have been a reaction to the cooler temperatures, but it's likely a reaction to the pace shown by Ferrari. 

Leclerc remained at the top as Ferrari and Red Bull look much stronger than Mercedes.