Free Practice 3 – Belgium: Lewis Hamilton Takes the Lead

Once again, perfect conditions for the third practice session of the Belgian Grand Prix: the sun is shining, it’s 21°C in the air and 28°C on the track.

As soon as the light turns green at the end of the pit road, Romain Grosjean, the two Ferraris, and the two Manors take off, quickly followed by the rest of the pack. The initial recorded times are clearly not significant as the Frenchman clocks in at 1:53:092 while the Manor drivers post times of 1:57 (Stevens) and 2:01 (Merhi). The Spanish driver also performs a stunt at the bus stop but without consequence.

Things start to get serious after ten minutes as Daniel Ricciardo clocks a 1:50:680, ahead of Hülkenberg, Rosberg, and Hamilton. The Brit quickly regains the lead, just 45 thousandths ahead of the Australian.

In the meantime, Pirelli wanted to address the issue of Nico Rosberg’s tire explosion during the second practice session. Their specialists concluded that it was not a structural defect in their tire but was related to an external object that had compromised the tire’s integrity.

Full investigation into @nico_rosberg‘s FP2 tyre now concluded: no structural integrity issue on this or any other tyre. (1/2) #F1

— Pirelli Motorsport (@pirellisport) 22 Août 2015

After fifteen minutes, the top 10 is as follows: Hamilton, Ricciardo, Rosberg, Räikkönen, Hülkenberg, Kvyat, Perez, Vettel, Nasr, Verstappen. So far, both Williams and both McLaren cars have only completed an installation lap but no timed lap.

If we are still far from the times achieved yesterday afternoon, it is because all the drivers only used medium tires while the soft ones were used yesterday.

The first to switch to the yellow-banded tires is Daniel Ricciardo. This immediately reflects in his lap time as he clocks in at 1:49.930 and takes the lead. He is thus the first non-Mercedes driver to break the 1:50 barrier on a lap, and he goes two-tenths faster than yesterday afternoon. Behind the Australian, Max Verstappen also switched to soft tires, moving up to second position with a time of 1:50.599, which is six-tenths better than his best time yesterday.

At mid-session, the top 10 is Ricciardo, Verstappen, Hamilton, Rosberg, Räikkönen, Hülkenberg, Bottas, Massa, Vettel, Kvyat. Still no times for the two McLarens of Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button.

Daniil Kvyat also picks up the pace, coming within five hundredths of his teammate while Sebastian Vettel moves up to 3rd place but keeps his medium tires. Jenson Button is able to put in his first laps but his time only allows him to move up to 17th place. Since the beginning of the session, Fernando Alonso has only been able to complete a single reconnaissance lap.

With fifteen minutes remaining, the standings have changed little: Ricciardo, Kvyat, Vettel, Verstappen, Hamilton, Räikkönen, Rosberg, Hülkenberg, Bottas, Massa. Most of the pack has returned to the pits, before a final push to prepare for qualifying.

It’s Nico Rosberg who starts the hostilities by immediately retaking the lead when he switched to soft tires, clocking in at 1:49.482. But the German is overshadowed shortly after by a very good time from Lewis Hamilton, who breaks the 1:49 barrier (1:48.984), a full seven-tenths better than yesterday afternoon! As for Kimi Räikkönen, he ranks 3rd with a time of 1:49.864, before his teammate betters it with 1:49.629. It’s also worth noting that Sergio Perez is just two thousandths of a second behind the Finn from Ferrari.

We didn’t see Fernando Alonso for the rest of the session as his mechanics were busy reassembling his exhaust. Both Sahara Force Indias are in the top 10 with Sergio Perez in 5th and Nico Hülkenberg. In this session, they were the second-best Mercedes team, ahead of Williams.

On the other hand, Romain Grosjean’s last attempt was hampered by Kimi Räikkönen’s Ferrari, which was going much slower. The Frenchman complained about it over the radio. An investigation could therefore be launched by the stewards.

From our special correspondent in Spa-Francorchamps