Charles Leclerc set the pace again for Ferrari as Lewis Hamilton crashed out in final practice at the Belgian Grand Prix.
The dominance of the Italian team continued with the Monegasque posting a 1m44.206s to hold a healthy 0.4s advantage over teammate Sebastian Vettel.
As the Scuderia lead, it was Hamilton who produced a rare mistake as he went into the barriers at the Fagnes chicane with 25 minutes to go.
The Briton lost the rear by taking too much kerb on the approach and slid helplessly into the wall doing a lot of damage to the front-left of his car.
Mercedes are likely to get his car fixed before qualifying, but it will certainly knock the confidence of Lewis as a tricky weekend continues.
His teammate Valtteri Bottas was already ahead of him in third before the crash and almost matched Vettel’s time with his final run of the session.
Daniel Ricciardo produced an excellent lap to claim fourth for Renault, as the combination of less downforce and a stronger engine allowed the Australian to fly down the straights.
He would be 0.4s clear of former teammate Max Verstappen in fifth, with the Dutchman initially testing a Monza-style rear wing before switching back to medium downforce for his second run.
Despite switching back to an old engine after his issue on Friday, Sergio Perez continued his good weekend in sixth for Racing Point.
Hamilton’s initial time saw him finish seventh with the two Alfa Romeo’s showing good speed as Kimi Raikkonen just pipped teammate Antonio Giovinazzi.
Also enjoying a stronger start to Saturday was Pierre Gasly as he claimed 10th in the Toro Rosso.
As Alfa made gans, the midfield’s other Ferrari-powered team, Haas, also made their way up the grid with Romain Grosjean 11th and Kevin Magnussen 13th.
While McLaren have work to do ahead of qualifying with Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris only 14th and 15th as the current fourth-placed team in the Constructors’ standings struggle.
Those taking grid penalties were towards the back of the field, including Lance Stroll, Daniil Kvyat and Alex Albon, all of whom were in the bottom five in final practice.
Joining them was Williams, with George Russell half a second clear of Robert Kubica once again.
Full results from Practice 3 at Spa-Francorchamps can be seen below:
