Lewis Hamilton hit back against Nico Rosberg ahead of qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix by finishing the final practice session half a second clear.

Rosberg had been fastest in both sessions on Friday as he appeared to have the upper hand over his team-mate, but Hamilton responded by comfortably topping the times in FP3 with a 1:48.984. Rosberg was second but just 0.15s clear of Sebastian Vettel's Ferrari.

A difference in set-up was clear from the quickest times as Vettel was faster than the Mercedes in the first and third sectors - which are predominantly spent at full throttle - while the Mercedes pair were comfortably quickest in the middle sector which requires more downforce.

Kimi Raikkonen was fourth in the second Ferrari ahead of Sergio Perez, with Force India following Ferrari's lead as Perez actually set the fastest final sector of the session. Daniel Ricciardo was sixth and Daniil Kvyat seventh as Red Bull remained competitive, with both cars within a second of Hamilton.

Nico Hulkeneberg finished the session eighth ahead of the Williams pair of Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa. Bottas said on Friday evening he expected Williams to be "much higher" on the timesheets and while there was a clear improvement overnight, the Finn's best time was still 1.2s adrift of top spot.

With Fernando Alonso handed a 30-place grid penalty on Friday and Jenson Button facing a drop of 25 places, McLaren took new power units ahead of FP3 which will again result in penalties. While certain to start from the back of the grid, the team still had another frustrating session as Alonso completed one solitary installation lap before being confined to the garage with an exhaust issue, while Button was three seconds off the pace.

After two red-flag interrupted sessions on Friday, Saturday morning was a more serene affair with Raikkonen taking a brief excursion through the gravel having been out of shape through Turn 13. Romain Grosjean had a spin at the final chicane having overtaken Roberto Merhi under braking, with Merhi himself having had a similar spin early in the session.

FP3 also saw modifications made to the kerbs at La Source and Eau Rouge, with the apex kerb at the top of Radillon removed following discussions during last night's driver's briefing.

Click here for a gallery of the biggest crashes at Spa-Francorchamps 

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Pos Driver Team Time Laps
01 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:48.984 15
02 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:49.482 19
03 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:49.629 17
04 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:49.864 19
05 Sergio Perez Force India 1:49.866 15
06 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull 1:49.930 20
07 Daniil Kvyat Red Bull 1:49.980 19
08 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:50.000 15
09 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:50.179 15
10 Felipe Massa Williams 1:50.447 15
11 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso 1:50.552 20
12 Pastor Maldonado Lotus 1:50.585 17
13 Max Verstappen Toro Rosso 1:50.599 21
14 Felipe Nasr Sauber 1:50.690 17
15 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1:51.054 20
16 Romain Grosjean Lotus 1:51.187 18
17 Jenson Button McLaren 1:51.981 12
18 Will Stevens Manor 1:54.262 16
19 Roberto Merhi Manor 1:54.281 9
20 Fernando Alonso McLaren 1
Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.

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