Charles Leclerc set the pace heading into qualifying for Ferrari in a close final practice at the German Grand Prix.
Fears that the cooler conditions would suit their rivals proved unfounded as the Scuderia’s advantage in the middle sector still proved enough for the Monegasque to hold P1.
Indeed, Leclerc held the top spot for much of the final hour of running at Hockenheim, with his first run of the session giving him a near half-second lead over Vettel.
Max Verstappen would sit third fastest at the time, half a second off the pace, but he and Red Bull teammate Pierre Gasly would use the medium compound to complete their initial flying laps.
Meanwhile, the expected charge of Mercedes floundered with Lewis Hamilton fourth and Valtteri Bottas 10th as they struggled in both the second and third sectors.
When all the teams switched to fresh softs, Leclerc’s pace only improved as he set two laps good enough to finish fastest.
His best was a 1m12.380s, but that only put him 0.168s clear of Verstappen in second for Red Bull as he moved up on the C4 Pirelli rubber.
Vettel simply didn’t have the confidence of his Ferrari teammate at his home track, with the German a quarter of a second back in third.
Lewis Hamilton would have been fourth with his fastest time of the session, albeit still four-tenths slower than Leclerc.
However, the stewards began deleting times for track limits infringements, with the Briton deemed to have run too wide at the final corner.
That meant Bottas was fourth with Hamilton dropping to sixth, as he couldn’t make significant improvements on his second lap with the used tyres.
Haas continued to lead the midfield, but it was roles reversed from Friday as Kevin Magnussen finished fifth in the updated car, while teammate Romain Grosjean was 10th using the Australia-spec VF-19.
Carlos Sainz put McLaren back where they’d be expected to be in seventh, but the midfield order remained very close and very jumbled.
Pierre Gasly’s struggles continued after crashing on Friday, with the Frenchman only eighth for Red Bull and almost 0.8s down of Verstappen.
Kimi Raikkonen remained his consistent self in ninth for Alfa Romeo, with the aforementioned Grosjean completing the top 10.
The big losers from Friday were Renault and Racing Point.
Sergio Perez would be 11th in the first pink panther but, as the pace increased, Lance Stroll dropped down to 16th and in danger of once again not making Q2 in qualifying.
Right behind the Perez was Nico Hulkenberg was 12th, while Daniel Ricciardo was the slowest of the midfield runners in 18th as his tough weekend continued.
Also disappointing was Lando Norris, with the Briton only 14th in the McLaren, however, even the smallest mistake has big consequences with just over half a second covering Sainz in P7 to Ricciardo in P18.
Finally, Williams continued at the back of the grid with Robert Kubica 0.3s clear of George Russell with both cars over three seconds off the pace set by Leclerc.
Full results from a busy Practice 3 can be seen below:
