Russell leads a British 1-2-3 in FP3 at the British Grand Prix
Breaking News
George Russell led a Mercedes 1-2 and a British 1-2-3 in a wet final free practice session at the Britain Grand Prix. Continuous light rain meant the track continued to stay damp for the whole 60 minutes but was not so heavy that wet tyres were needed. The rain meant no team was utterly dominant, but it was the German team who took the first two places, with Russell just +0.035 seconds ahead of his teammate Lewis Hamilton, and Lando Norris taking P3 as the chequered flag fell.
Although McLaren may still be the team to beat after some great pace in the dry, the wet lap pace from Mercedes will buoy their confidence. Behind the three Brits was Carlos Sainz in P4, with Max Verstappen only able to take P5 in his Red Bull. Charles Leclerc and Oscar Piastri took P6 and P7, respectively, with Fernando Alonso, Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg rounding out the top ten.
Rain hits Silverstone in the final practice session
Rainfall in the morning meant that the Silverstone track was wet as FP3 got underway, with the intermediate tyres being the tyre of choice by the drivers as the light went green at the end of the pitlane.
It took just eight minutes for the session to have its first red flag, which came via Pierre Gasly's spin into the gravel at Vale. The Alpine driver was stuck in the gravel trap and could not carry on, meaning his session was done with 52 minutes left to go. However, six minutes later, the car was moved from the gravel, and the green flag came out to get the session back underway.
There were a few spins throughout the session as drivers struggled with the wet track and the lack of grip on a track that was so wet it saw the safety car slide off the track during a reconnaissance lap before the F3 sprint race was postponed.
More rain meant no lap improvements
George Russell topped the timesheets in the first half an hour on the intermediates in the overcast conditions of Silverstone as the rain held off. Lewis Hamilton was behind his teammate, and Charles Leclerc was P3. Norris and Verstappen were in P4 and P5, respectively, with the rain neutralising the grid and showing no dominant team in the damp conditions.
Just as the standing water seemed to be leaving the track, the rain increased a little bit more. The extreme wet weather tyres were not needed and stayed in the garage, but an increase in standing water on the track meant that there were no lap improvements in the final 15 minutes of the session.