70th Anniversary GP: Hamilton fastest, Norris catches the eye in Practice 3

Lewis Hamilton led another Mercedes 1-2 in final practice for the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix.

As teams evaluated their approach ahead of qualifying, the Briton posted a 1m26.621s on the soft tyre as lap times were significantly slower than Friday due a to stronger wind blowing across Silverstone.

Hamilton was a tenth clear of teammate Valtteri Bottas in second, but Mercedes weren’t as dominant as usual perhaps due to the tricky conditions.

Also having to be taken into account is the tyre situation, with the C4 soft compound not appearing much faster, if at all, than the C3 medium rubber.

And this was emphasised with Lando Norris taking third in the McLaren on the yellow-marked Pirellis, just over half a second off the benchmark time.

The two Racing Point’s followed in fourth and fifth, with Nico Hulkenberg 0.007s ahead of teammate Lance Stroll, followed by Charles Leclerc in sixth for Ferrari.

Red Bull did look more competitive against Mercedes initially, but a true reflection of their comparative performance wasn’t possible as Max Verstappen was baulked by a slow-moving Stroll in the Maggotts-Becketts sequence.

Without a clean lap then the Dutchman dropped to seventh, just ahead of teammate Alex Albon.

Esteban Ocon was ninth for Renault as Carlos Sainz completed the top 10 in the second McLaren.

Down the field, following his engine issue on Friday, Sebastian Vettel’s pace struggles continued in 13th for Ferrari.

Daniel Ricciardo was also left frustrated having dropped from third in Practice 2, to 14th in Practice 3 as he had traffic and other issues.

Nicholas Latifi finished ahead of Williams teammate George Russell in 16th and 17th respectively, though a big moment for the Briton through Stowe corner did set him back a little.

The two Alfa Romeo’s lagged behind in 18th and 19th, while Kevin Magnussen brought up the field for Haas.

Full results for Practice 3 can be seen below: