Charles Leclerc takes surprise lead in final practice session - FP3 report
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It was Charles Leclerc's session during FP3 in Singapore as he surprised the field to claim top spot heading into qualifying later today. Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel completed the top three.
Leclerc managed to pull it out the bag around the Marina Bay Circuit and he led a lot of the session by over half a second. Lewis Hamilton who had a bizarre spin closed the gap to 0.207s but it wasn't enough to displace the Monegasque who surprised many who expected it to be purely between Max Verstappen and Hamilton.
It suggested that qualifying will be a lot closer than many had predicted, with Vettel also breaking into the top three. Verstappen was only able to come in sixth as he got caught up in traffic on his quick lap.
McLaren were once again at the front midfield with a comfortable gap to Renault who were their closest challengers.
Halfway through the session SportPesa Racing Point driver, Sergio Perez brought out the virtual safety car after colliding with the wall at turn 22. The Mexican damaged his rear right tyre leaving debris over the track and the session was subsequently red-flagged.
Daniil Kvyat also suffered a challenging session as his FP3 ended prematurely after black smoke started pouring out of his engine. He returned to the garage and did not set a time in the session as the Toro Rosso team worked to fix the problem.