Ferrari lead final practice as Verstappen splits the Mercedes

2017 Canadian Grand Prix third practice

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Sebastian Vettel lapped quicker than last year’s pole position time as he headed a Ferrari one-two in the final practice session.

Team mate Kimi Raikkonen got within three tenths of a second of his time and narrowly beat Lewis Hamilton to second place. However the Mercedes driver was a match for Vettel everywhere besides the final sector.

Straight-line speed was a key difference between the two cars: Hamilton’s lower top speeds suggesting a less powerful engine more or additional downforce may have prevented a better lap time.

Max Verstappen split the Mercedes drivers with a great lap at the end of the session, getting perilously close to the Wall of Champions. He relegated Valtteri Bottas, who had his own near-miss with the turn four wall, to fifth place.

The other Red Bull of Daniel Ricciardo could only manage eighth behind Nico Hulkenberg and Felipe Massa. In a closely-knit field eight tenths and ten cars separated the first Williams from that of team mate Lance Stroll.

Esteban Ocon and Carlos Sainz Jnr also made it into the top ten while their team mates did not, indicating the fight for a place in Q3 will be tight in the upcoming qualifying session.

Fernando Alonso held a place inside the top ten until late in the session before slipping to 12th place.

Pos.No.DriverCarBest lapGapLaps
15Sebastian VettelFerrari1’12.57220
27Kimi RaikkonenFerrari1’12.8640.29219
344Lewis HamiltonMercedes1’12.9260.35422
433Max VerstappenRed Bull-TAG Heuer1’12.9650.39322
577Valtteri BottasMercedes1’13.2100.63824
627Nico HulkenbergRenault1’13.4930.92120
719Felipe MassaWilliams-Mercedes1’13.5270.95522
83Daniel RicciardoRed Bull-TAG Heuer1’13.5450.97335
931Esteban OconForce India-Mercedes1’13.6351.06326
1055Carlos Sainz JnrToro Rosso-Renault1’13.6671.09522
1126Daniil KvyatToro Rosso-Renault1’13.7881.21623
1214Fernando AlonsoMcLaren-Honda1’13.8851.31318
1311Sergio PerezForce India-Mercedes1’13.9561.38427
148Romain GrosjeanHaas-Ferrari1’13.9941.42219
1530Jolyon PalmerRenault1’14.1021.53022
162Stoffel VandoorneMcLaren-Honda1’14.2281.65622
1720Kevin MagnussenHaas-Ferrari1’14.3921.82018
1818Lance StrollWilliams-Mercedes1’14.4091.83725
199Marcus EricssonSauber-Ferrari1’14.8832.31125
2094Pascal WehrleinSauber-Ferrari1’14.9652.39325

Third practice visual gaps

Sebastian Vettel – 1’12.572

+0.292 Kimi Raikkonen – 1’12.864

+0.354 Lewis Hamilton – 1’12.926

+0.393 Max Verstappen – 1’12.965

+0.638 Valtteri Bottas – 1’13.210

+0.921 Nico Hulkenberg – 1’13.493

+0.955 Felipe Massa – 1’13.527

+0.973 Daniel Ricciardo – 1’13.545

+1.063 Esteban Ocon – 1’13.635

+1.095 Carlos Sainz Jnr – 1’13.667

+1.216 Daniil Kvyat – 1’13.788

+1.313 Fernando Alonso – 1’13.885

+1.384 Sergio Perez – 1’13.956

+1.422 Romain Grosjean – 1’13.994

+1.530 Jolyon Palmer – 1’14.102

+1.656 Stoffel Vandoorne – 1’14.228

+1.820 Kevin Magnussen – 1’14.392

+1.837 Lance Stroll – 1’14.409

+2.311 Marcus Ericsson – 1’14.883

+2.393 Pascal Wehrlein – 1’14.965

Drivers more then ten seconds off the pace omitted.

Combined practice times

PosDriverCarFP1FP2FP3Fri/Sat diffTotal laps
1Sebastian VettelFerrari1’14.0071’13.2001’12.572-0.62889
2Kimi RaikkonenFerrari1’14.2301’12.9351’12.864-0.07188
3Lewis HamiltonMercedes1’13.8091’13.1501’12.926-0.22499
4Max VerstappenRed Bull-TAG Heuer1’14.8611’13.3881’12.965-0.42366
5Valtteri BottasMercedes1’14.0461’13.3101’13.210-0.187
6Nico HulkenbergRenault1’16.4731’14.6041’13.493-1.11185
7Felipe MassaWilliams-Mercedes1’15.1061’14.0631’13.527-0.53691
8Daniel RicciardoRed Bull-TAG Heuer1’15.4411’15.0721’13.545-1.52766
9Esteban OconForce India-Mercedes1’14.7851’14.2991’13.635-0.664107
10Carlos Sainz JnrToro Rosso-Renault1’14.6211’13.667-0.95466
11Daniil KvyatToro Rosso-Renault1’15.6581’14.4611’13.788-0.67387
12Fernando AlonsoMcLaren-Honda1’16.5211’14.2451’13.885-0.3650
13Sergio PerezForce India-Mercedes1’14.5781’14.5011’13.956-0.545102
14Romain GrosjeanHaas-Ferrari1’16.3451’14.5661’13.994-0.57270
15Jolyon PalmerRenault1’17.0041’15.1271’14.102-1.02588
16Stoffel VandoorneMcLaren-Honda1’15.9431’15.6241’14.228-1.39671
17Kevin MagnussenHaas-Ferrari1’16.2331’14.6761’14.392-0.28478
18Lance StrollWilliams-Mercedes1’16.3131’15.2401’14.409-0.831101
19Marcus EricssonSauber-Ferrari1’16.8051’15.6111’14.883-0.72880
20Pascal WehrleinSauber-Ferrari1’17.6061’16.3081’14.965-1.34384

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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18 comments on “Ferrari lead final practice as Verstappen splits the Mercedes”

  1. Is Stroll really that bad? I know it is his first year. I know he is really young. But 1 second slower than an almost retired driver?

    1. Sack Ricciardo

      1. The point is that Stroll has been off the pace in this way in almost every session of the season.

      2. Arad (@just-an-fan)
        10th June 2017, 16:41

        Why sack him when Redbull can shaft Max to make Dani boy look better than he is??? So much for being qualifying specialist!

    2. and Bottas

      1. Arad (@just-an-fan)
        10th June 2017, 16:42

        Why? he’s been consistently outperforming the racing god!!

        1. What alternate reality do you live in?

          1. @trublu, he is an attention seeking troll – the best thing that you can do is to ignore him.

      2. Bottas is 3 tenths off Hamilton on a track where Hamilton is always very fast.
        Ricciardo has always been mediocre here. Yes, even in 2014. Before Vettel got stuck behind the Force India’s he was running comfortably ahead of Ricciardo.
        Nevertheless Ricciardo is also only 6 tenths off whilst having done much less running than Verstappen and setting his time earlier in the session.

        Stroll is just slow. As is Palmer. Both did a similar amount of laps compared to their teammates and both set their fastest times at the same time as their teammates. So they can’t blame lack of run time or track evolution. Just the difference in talent.

    3. Andre Furtado
      10th June 2017, 16:30

      Stroll definitely does not belong I formula 1. He had extensive preparation expensively paid by his father. More than any rookie has ever had.

      1. Good one :)

  2. Mercedes was clearly sandbagging. They weren’t even using DRS lol.

  3. Arad (@just-an-fan)
    10th June 2017, 16:39

    Looks like Dani boy is having a hard time beating Redbull’s No2 driver!

    1. Even though Max is behind on points…he clearly looks the stronger driver this year. Better and more agressive during the races and outQing Danny the last few races. Bad luck is what stopped Max getting more points

      1. Arad (@just-an-fan)
        10th June 2017, 16:59

        Max would have been ahead had redbull not shafted him in Monaco. Anyway, there is a long way to go and Max doesn’t have to prove anything anymore.

    2. I have always precipitated Dani as no 2 driver ever since dr Marko brought in Max.

  4. I like Dan better but Max showed some excitement or only excitement last year.

  5. Shaping up to be a tight qualifying. Great lap from Verstappen and boy was that close to the Wall of Champions with the rear of the car snapping away from him, he just caught it.

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