Lewis Hamilton kept Mercedes on top to sweep all three free practices at the British Grand Prix as Sebastian Vettel ended the defending world champions domination by finishing second ahead of Valtteri Bottas in a calm FP3.
The British driver posted a 1:28.063s on the supersoft tyres but Vettel put the pressure on by going quicker in the first two sectors before setting a time only 0.032s adrift of his championship rival.
Bottas, who was on top Friday, was only able to finish third and will drop five places due to a gearbox change after qualifying but the top three was over six tenths ahead of the second Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen in fourth.
Meaningful running was curtailed early with rain arriving around the circuit, most drivers did venture out for a run on the intermediates with several, including Daniel Ricciardo, who it was confirmed before the session will take his own five-place grid penalty for a gearbox change, and Marcus Ericsson spinning in the damp conditions.
That meant the midfield order was a little mixed up as the initial dry track became damp. It allowed Nico Hulkenberg to finish a surprising fifth for Renault ahead of Ricciardo, who as likely heavily fueled in his Red Bull.
Romain Grosjean kept his good form after the Austrian Grand Prix bringing his Haas seventh, Max Verstappen missed out on a super-soft tyre run as he went out just as the rain arrived and was therefore eighth with Felipe Massa and Stoffel Vandoorne, despite a loss of power midway through in his McLaren, completing the top 10.
Fernando Alonso finished 11th in the second MCL32, though it was also confirmed the Spaniard will start from the back of the grid due to engine penalties. Esteban Ocon came in 12th with teammate Sergio Perez only 15th as Force India continue to take it easy.They were split by Kevin Magnussen and Jolyon Palmer, who had engine vibrations at one point and was nine-tenths slower than his teammate in 14th.
Toro Rosso is also on the back foot at Silverstone with Daniil Kvyat 16th and Carlos Sainz 17th, far from their regular spots this season. Pascal Wehrlein finished ahead of teammate Marcus Ericsson coming 18th and 19th.
Finally, Lance Stroll did not enjoy a good session finishing 20th for Williams, as the team try to find the best setup with the new updates introduced for this weekend.
With the gap between the Mercedes and Ferrari reduced, Hulkenberg leading the battle of the rest and rain never far away, a promising qualifying session awaits.
