Russell led wet FP3 at British GP whilst Gasly beached at Vale

Mercedes George Russell topped the timing boards on a wet final practice session at the British Grand Prix, ahead of qualifying.

Feature image credit: Mercedes F1  

Three British drivers lined up the top three on the timing board at the end of Free Practice Three; Russell and his teammate Lewis Hamilton, and McLaren’s Lando Norris. 

As a result of the preceding downspout, which postponed Formula 3 running, the only tyres on show were the green-walled intermediate. 

The weather was reported to intensify and ‘get worse’ across the session, threatening extreme wet tyre conditions, but that never came to fruition and inters were the preferred tyre choice.

Alpine’s Pierre Gasly brought out the red flag early on in the session as his Alpine snapped under braking in the wet conditions, sending the Frenchman spinning into the gravel at Vale corner. 

How final practice ended…

Russell topped the timing boards with an impressive 1m 37.529s lap time as Hamilton completed the session in second, 0.035s behind. Norris completed the top three with a lap time which was 0.185s off the leading pace. 

Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz found himself to be ‘best-of-the-rest’ in fourth ahead of Red Bull’s reigning world champion, Max Verstappen who completed practice in fifth. 

Sainz’s teammate, Charles Leclerc finished FP3 in sixth ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin), Sergio Perez (Red Bull) and Nico Hulkenberg (Haas) in order of seventh to 10th. 

Alexander Albon was the leading Williams in 11th with his teammate, Logan Sargeant, in 13th. This left Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll to sandwich himself in between the two Williams in 12th. 

RB’s Yuki Tsunoda and Kick Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas completed the top 15, in 14th and 15th respectively. 

Alpine’s Esteban Ocon was the only driver for the team to set a lap time due to his teammate’s early retirement from the session. However, the Alpine driver could only manage 16th-fastest in the damp conditions. 

Haas’ Kevin Magnussen, RB’s Daniel Ricciardo and Kick Sauber’s Guanyu Zhou completed the field of running drivers from 17th to 19th. 

Ricciardo was also reported to be summoned to the stewards after the session as he was found weaving inside the pit lane, on the way back to his garage. 

Gasly rounded out the 20-driver field without a lap time against his name after he beached his Alpine in the gravel trap at Vale, in the first 10 minutes.

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• Williams to run ‘staff tribute’ livery at British GP

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Kamron Kent

Hi, I’m Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion.

I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I’ve loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.

Kamron Kent

Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.