Bottas beats Hamilton by 0.042s in final Hungary practice

Valtteri Bottas set the fastest time for Mercedes in the final practice session for the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Bottas set a time of 1m15.437s in the final hour of practice, held amid a 90% threat of rain on Saturday morning at the Hungaroring.

Lewis Hamilton had challenged Bottas to end the session on top but eventually settled for second, ahead of the Racing Point of Sergio Perez.

Despite the threat of rain – which ultimately did not materialise – it was a quiet first 20 minutes of the session, with Lando Norris, Kevin Magnussen, and Romain Grosjean heading out to set the early laptimes.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was fourth in the final order, enjoying a much better session for Ferrari, having also occupied the top spot briefly before being displaced by Bottas.

Lance Stroll was fifth for Racing Point ahead of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.

Verstappen suffered a spin at Turn 12 around the midway point of the session, with the car continuing to look particularly twitchy for the remainder of the morning running.

McLaren’s Norris was seventh, with Sebastian Vettel and Pierre Gasly behind him in eighth and ninth respectively.

Daniel Ricciardo completed the top 10 for Renault, with Carlos Sainz – who Ricciardo is replacing at McLaren next year – ending the session in 11th.

Alex Albon was 12th, ahead of Esteban Ocon and George Russell, who made enormous gains in the final 15 minutes of the session and had run as high as ninth.

Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen were 13th and 14th for Haas, ahead of AlphaTauri’s Daniil Kvyat in 15th and the Alfa Romeo’s of Antonio Giovinazzi and Kimi Raikkonen.

Nicholas Latifi completed the order for Williams, having also suffered a spin at the same spot as Verstappen.

Practice 3 Results