Max Verstappen topped the third free practice session ahead of the Canadian Grand Prix, making it a hat-trick of fastest times for the Red Bull ace across the Montreal weekend.
Verstappen, who topped both sessions yesterday, unleashed a 1m11.599s on hypersoft tyres with 13 minutes remaining to top the timesheet.
That beat Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel by 0.049s, despite none of Verstappen’s three sectors being the fastest overall.
World championship leader Lewis Hamilton could only manage the fourth fastest time, as Mercedes seemingly failed to master its balance on the hypersoft – ending up a tenth away from Verstappen.
Ferrari went straight for the hypersoft tyre from the start of the session, with Kimi Raikkonen setting the early pace on 1m12.359s, then Vettel usurped him on 1m12.235s on his seventh lap on these tyres.
Mercedes started on ultrasofts, with Hamilton building up to 1m12.598s, and Valtteri Bottas on a 1m12.666s. Hamilton then topped that on his ninth lap, jumping to second on 1m12.301s, and only 0.066s off Vettel’s then-fastest hypersoft time.
Red Bull followed the Mercedes approach, with Daniel Ricciardo working down to 1m12.838s on ultrasofts. Verstappen shot straight to third on 1m12.552s also on ultras, and chipped away to a 1m12.435s.
Having encountered some sensor issues, Ricciardo then switched to the hypersoft, unleashing a 1m12.451s to run fifth but ran wide passing a Williams. A second run later on yielded a 1m12.153s.
Vettel took another set of hypersofts, improving to 1m12.300s despite catching a Sauber at the chicane. On his second lap, he lowered the P1 bar to 1m11.648s.
Ferrari identified an issue on Raikkonen’s car, which required some feverish mid-session work at the rear of his machine, but he rejoined to set 1m11.763s on hypersofts. He then got within 0.002s of Vettel’s time with 1m11.650s, that would stand to be the third-fastest time.
Neither Hamilton nor Bottas used the hypersofts on Friday, thanks to having only five sets available for the weekend. Bottas managed 1m12.357s on his first lap on the rubber with 20 minutes remaining, and improved later to 1m12.255s.
Hamilton followed suit, and took two warm-up laps before recording a 1m11.706s – despite the fastest first sector overall. He struggled to improve after that, and missed the apex at Turn 9.
Hamilton ended the session fourth, ahead of Ricciardo and Bottas – who were both over half a second off the leading pace.
Sergio Perez was best of the rest for Force India, ahead of Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg, the Haas of Romain Grosjean and McLaren’s Stoffel Vandoorne.
Vandoorne suffered a huge lock-up at Turn 3 early in the session, and was forced to take a trip down the escape road and perform a five-point turn to rejoin.
Esteban Ocon was 11th for Force India, ahead of Toro Rosso’s Brendon Hartley. The latter had a scare when he happened across a touring Mercedes at the chicane, and was forced to straightline. He followed that up with a big lock-up into Turn 1, which he also cut.
Fernando Alonso was only 13th fastest for McLaren, two tenths off Vandoorne, with Carlos Sainz 14th, four tenths off Renault teammate Hulkenberg and admitted: “We struggled with everything.”
Toro Rosso’s Pierre Gasly, Charles Leclerc (Sauber), Kevin Magnussen (Haas), Sergey Sirotkin (Williams), Marcus Ericsson (Sauber) and Lance Stroll (Williams) rounded out the field.
Max Verstappen topped the third free practice session ahead of the Canadian Grand Prix, making it a hat-trick of fastest times for the Red Bull ace across the Montreal weekend.
Verstappen, who topped both sessions yesterday, unleashed a 1m11.599s on hypersoft tyres with 13 minutes remaining to top the timesheet.
That beat Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel by 0.049s, despite none of Verstappen's three sectors being the fastest overall.
World championship leader Lewis Hamilton could only manage the fourth fastest time, as Mercedes seemingly failed to master its balance on the hypersoft – ending up a tenth away from Verstappen.
Ferrari went straight for the hypersoft tyre from the start of the session, with Kimi Raikkonen setting the early pace on 1m12.359s, then Vettel usurped him on 1m12.235s on his seventh lap on these tyres.
Mercedes started on ultrasofts, with Hamilton building up to 1m12.598s, and Valtteri Bottas on a 1m12.666s. Hamilton then topped that on his ninth lap, jumping to second on 1m12.301s, and only 0.066s off Vettel's then-fastest hypersoft time.
Red Bull followed the Mercedes approach, with Daniel Ricciardo working down to 1m12.838s on ultrasofts. Verstappen shot straight to third on 1m12.552s also on ultras, and chipped away to a 1m12.435s.
Having encountered some sensor issues, Ricciardo then switched to the hypersoft, unleashing a 1m12.451s to run fifth but ran wide passing a Williams. A second run later on yielded a 1m12.153s.
Vettel took another set of hypersofts, improving to 1m12.300s despite catching a Sauber at the chicane. On his second lap, he lowered the P1 bar to 1m11.648s.
Ferrari identified an issue on Raikkonen's car, which required some feverish mid-session work at the rear of his machine, but he rejoined to set 1m11.763s on hypersofts. He then got within 0.002s of Vettel's time with 1m11.650s, that would stand to be the third-fastest time.
Neither Hamilton nor Bottas used the hypersofts on Friday, thanks to having only five sets available for the weekend. Bottas managed 1m12.357s on his first lap on the rubber with 20 minutes remaining, and improved later to 1m12.255s.
Hamilton followed suit, and took two warm-up laps before recording a 1m11.706s – despite the fastest first sector overall. He struggled to improve after that, and missed the apex at Turn 9.
Hamilton ended the session fourth, ahead of Ricciardo and Bottas – who were both over half a second off the leading pace.
Sergio Perez was best of the rest for Force India, ahead of Renault's Nico Hulkenberg, the Haas of Romain Grosjean and McLaren's Stoffel Vandoorne.
Vandoorne suffered a huge lock-up at Turn 3 early in the session, and was forced to take a trip down the escape road and perform a five-point turn to rejoin.
Esteban Ocon was 11th for Force India, ahead of Toro Rosso's Brendon Hartley. The latter had a scare when he happened across a touring Mercedes at the chicane, and was forced to straightline. He followed that up with a big lock-up into Turn 1, which he also cut.
Fernando Alonso was only 13th fastest for McLaren, two tenths off Vandoorne, with Carlos Sainz 14th, four tenths off Renault teammate Hulkenberg and admitted: "We struggled with everything."
Toro Rosso's Pierre Gasly, Charles Leclerc (Sauber), Kevin Magnussen (Haas), Sergey Sirotkin (Williams), Marcus Ericsson (Sauber) and Lance Stroll (Williams) rounded out the field.
