Verstappen seventh fastest at final practice on Silverstone

Published on 08 August 2020 by Mike Motilall

Max Verstappen came in seventh fastest at the final practice for the 70th Anniversary GP. The Dutchman lapped the 5,89 kilometer long Silverstone track twelve times with his fastest time being a 1:27.455. Verstappen appeared to be going for a faster time in an earlier attempt but the slower running Lance Stroll put a spoke in his wheels. Lewis Hamilton topped the board with a 1:26.621, while Valtteri Bottas and Lando Norris rounded out the top three.

It is 11.00 am local time when the lights go out for the third and final Free Practice on Silverstone. Sebastian Vettel is the first driver to leave the pit lane for an installation lap. Team mate Charles Leclerc quickly follows suit, just like Daniil Kvyat and both Haas-drivers. With temperatures being in the mid twenties, the weather conditions in Great-Britain are quite nice

The start of the session gets underway quite calmly as the Ferrari and McLaren-drivers are the only ones to have set a time after twenty minutes. Slowly but surely it starts getting busier on track and the timesheet continues to get populated. Just before the halfway mark, Max Verstappen gets out on track. Valtteri Bottas has done a 1:27.509 on the softs, the fastest lap by then. Behind him Pierre Gasly, Lance Stroll, Charles Leclerc, Lando Norris and Esteban Ocon round out the top six.

In his first timed lap, Verstappen does a 1:27.702 on the softs, earning him P3. On the same set, Max manages to better his time moments later to a 1:27.615. He heads back to his team after that. The gap to the fastest man on track, Lewis Hamilton, is more than three tenths.

With a little less than fifteen minutes on the clock, Max re-emerges for a new run. Just like the previous run, the Dutchman has a set of softs strapped on to his RB16. In his timed lap, Verstappen is on his way to clock the fastest time of the session, but runs in to a slower paced Lance Stroll in Becketts. Forcing the Dutchman to abort his flying lap. On the radio, the Aston Martin Red Bull Racing-driver expresses in no unclear terms his dismay of the incident involving the Racing Point-driver.

In a new effort Verstappen manages to sharpen his time by a tenth and-a-half. But the 1:27.455 puts him only seventh fastest. Lewis Hamilton tops the board taking the fastest time with a 1:26.621. Valtteri Bottas, Lando Norris, Nico Hülkenberg, Lance Stroll and Charles Leclerc round out the top six.

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Results third free practice Great Britain: