Hamilton top by just 0.098s in FP3 in Hungary

© XPB 

Lewis Hamilton completed a clean sweep of the three practice sessions for the Hungarian Grand Prix but saw his advantage cut to just 0.098s in FP3.

The championship leader was fastest in both Friday sessions as team-mate Nico Rosberg admitted he was "chasing my tail" throughout the day. However, on Saturday morning Rosberg was much more competitive and Hamilton was only able to retain to spot by less than 0.1s.

Rosberg finished second but had to end his session slightly early as he stopped at the end of the pit lane with two minutes to go. Despite that, the two Mercedes drivers were comfortably clear of the rest of the field as Sebastian Vettel ended the session 0.889s adrift in third place - the only other driver to get within a second of the leading pair.

Daniil Kvyat was fourth but Red Bull's encouraging pace from Friday faded slightly, with the gap to Hamilton being 1.2s and team-mate Daniel Ricciardo languishing in ninth place. Kvyat pipped Carlos Sainz with his final lap, leaving the Toro Rosso driver in fifth place despite appearing to struggle with his brakes early in the session.

Sixth was Nico Hulkenberg as Force India made up for lost time on Friday. Following Sergio Perez's heavy crash in FP1, neither driver ran in FP2 while a suspension issue was investigated. After finding the cause and implementing a solution, Force India had a busy morning on Saturday as the two cars completed 55 laps between them, though Perez was down in 15th.

Max Verstappen was seventh quickest - 0.3s slower than team-mate Sainz - with Fernando Alonso an encouraging eighth for McLaren ahead of Ricciardo and Romain Grosjean's Lotus.

It was a disappointing session for Williams as Felipe Massa finished 12th and Valtteri Bottas 14th, suggesting Q3 could be a struggle for the team later in the day. However, it was a close session as just half a second covered Alonso in eighth back to Perez in P15.

Kimi Raikkonen was 16th after he hit more trouble and completed just 12 laps. Raikkonen was coasting in the middle sector and had to skip the chicane to allow traffic past, but he returned to the garage and didn't run again after radioing in to say: "I don't know what happened, do I have a puncture?"

Click here for a gallery of Sergio Perez's crash in FP1 at the Hungarian Grand Prix

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PosDriverTeamTimeLaps
01Lewis HamiltonMercedes1:22.99712
02Nico RosbergMercedes1:23.09520
03Sebastian VettelFerrari1:23.88619
04Daniil KvyatRed Bull1:24.21517
05Carlos SainzToro Rosso1:24.32622
06Nico HulkenbergForce India1:24.48330
07Max VerstappenToro Rosso1:24.67822
08Fernando AlonsoMcLaren1:24.84616
09Daniel RicciardoRed Bull1:24.92912
10Romain GrosjeanLotus1:24.94122
11Pastor MaldonadoLotus1:24.95316
12Felipe MassaWilliams1:25.09413
13Jenson ButtonMcLaren1:25.22916
14Valtteri BottasWilliams1:25.34517
15Sergio PerezForce India1:25.39325
16Kimi RaikkonenFerrari1:25.66112
17Felipe NasrSauber1:26.06020
18Marcus EricssonSauber1:26.09520
19Will StevensManor1:28.75719
20Roberto MerhiManor1:28.90820