Bottas takes over to keep Mercedes on top in FP3

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Valtteri Bottas picked up in FP3 where team mate Lewis Hamilton left off yesterday, in the ultimate session before this afternoon's qualifying for the Brazilian GP.

The Finn clocked in with a 1:09.281, just a few hundred of a seconds short of Hamilton's pace-setting time from FP1. The Mercedes pair led from Ferrari's duo, Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo and McLaren's Fernando Alonso.

Brazilian Grand Prix - Free Practice 3 results

Pos	Driver	Team	Time	Gap	Laps
1	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	1:09.281s		24
2	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:09.284s	+ 0.003s	26
3	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	1:09.326s	+ 0.045s	20
4	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	1:09.339s	+ 0.058s	21
5	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull	1:10.244s	+ 0.963s	14
6	Fernando Alonso	McLaren	1:10.288s	+ 1.007s	15
7	Sergio Pérez	Force India	1:10.322s	+ 1.041s	21
8	Esteban Ocon	Force India	1:10.357s	+ 1.076s	23
9	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	1:10.495s	+ 1.214s	9
10	Carlos Sainz	Renault	1:10.599s	+ 1.318s	23
11	Stoffel Vandoorne	McLaren	1:10.637s	+ 1.356s	21
12	Felipe Massa	Williams	1:10.671s	+ 1.390s	14
13	Kevin Magnussen	Haas	1:10.721s	+ 1.440s	19
14	Nico Hülkenberg	Renault	1:10.743s	+ 1.462s	18
15	Romain Grosjean	Haas	1:10.762s	+ 1.481s	20
16	Pierre Gasly	Toro Rosso	1:10.981s	+ 1.700s	32
17	Brendon Hartley	Toro Rosso	1:11.085s	+ 1.804s	30
18	Pascal Wehrlein	Sauber	1:11.126s	+ 1.845s	25
19	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber	1:11.480s	+ 2.199s	27
20	Lance Stroll	Williams			1

Drivers took to the track under a menacing sky and with a few damp patches still lingering from the overnight rain.

The initial installation laps saw most running on the medium compound tyre - the hardest available from Pirelli this weekend, with McLaren's Fernando Alonso setting the fastest time.

Toro Rosso's Pierre Gasly and Brendon Hartley were hard at work from the outset, eager to make up for yesterday's crucial lack of running.

Williams' Lance Stroll however was sidelined ten minutes into the session when an ominous puff of smoke was seen exiting his FW40 and a terminal sound was heard onboard.

Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen, on his first effort of the day, put himself at the top of the timesheet with a 1:09.928s, a lap around seven tenths slower than Lewis Hamilton's best in FP1 yesterday.

Meanwhile, Red Bull's drivers, who had remained confined to the garage for engine mileage reasons, finally emerged but without making much of an impression.

The Mercedes camp also joined the action with both Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas dialing in the speed at the wheel of their supersoft-shod W08.

Yet it was Ferrari, with Raikkonen followed by Sebastian Vettel, who headed the field with just fifteen minutes remaining.

The move prompted an immediate response from the Silver Arrows squad, with Bottas, courtesy of a superb final sector, reclaiming P1 while his team mate was hot on his heels in P2.

In his efforts to improve in the final stages of the FP3, Max Verstappen spun at Turn 12 after taking too much kerb on the exit.

It was a competitive final hour which Mercedes concluded ahead once again, but the margin to its rivals has decreased substantially from yesterday.

Who will have the edge in the battle for pole position?

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Michael Delaney