Vettel keeps himself on top in final free practice

Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel kept himself ahead of the field in the Saturday morning's dress rehearsal before the afternoon's qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix.

With a lap in 1m16.170s, the German enjoyed an advantage of 0.059s over Mercedes Valtteri Bottas, with Kimi Raikkonen ending the session third.

Lewis Hamilton's morning run to fourth overall was marked by a spin resulting from a very unstable handling Silver Arrows.

Hungarian Grand Prix - Free Practice 3

Pos	Driver	Team	Time	Gap	Laps
1	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	1:16.170s		16
2	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	1:16.229s	+ 0.059s	17
3	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	1:16.373s	+ 0.203s	16
4	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:16.749s	+ 0.579s	17
5	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull	1:16.803s	+ 0.633s	11
6	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	1:16.946s	+ 0.776s	14
7	Carlos Sainz	Renault	1:17.754s	+ 1.584s	17
8	Nico Hülkenberg	Renault	1:18.083s	+ 1.913s	18
9	Romain Grosjean	Haas	1:18.084s	+ 1.914s	19
10	Pierre Gasly	Toro Rosso	1:18.139s	+ 1.969s	22
11	Kevin Magnussen	Haas	1:18.230s	+ 2.060s	17
12	Brendon Hartley	Toro Rosso	1:18.252s	+ 2.082s	19
13	Charles Leclerc	Sauber	1:18.376s	+ 2.206s	19
14	Fernando Alonso	McLaren	1:18.467s	+ 2.297s	15
15	Esteban Ocon	Force India	1:18.512s	+ 2.342s	20
16	Sergey Sirotkin	Williams	1:18.630s	+ 2.460s	17
17	Stoffel Vandoorne	McLaren	1:18.789s	+ 2.619s	14
18	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber	1:18.842s	+ 2.672s	18
19	Sergio Pérez	Force India	1:18.962s	+ 2.792s	18
20	Lance Stroll	Williams	1:19.132s	+ 2.962s	20

The dominant theme in the Hungarian paddock was the news overnight of Force India going into administration. The Silverstone-based outfit was alive and well however on Saturday morning, and it was very much business as usual for the pink squad.

Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen was the first driver to put a significant time on the board, the Finn clocking in with a 1m17.057s on ultrasofts that just edged Renault's Carlos Sainz.

But the Iceman was demoted at the top by countryman Valtteri Bottas with a 1m16.986s that was almost immediately blow away by Sebastian Vettel who went 0.643s faster.

Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton appeared to struggle with his Silver Arrows, the Brit's car looking uncharacteristically unstable around the Hungaroring's twisty layout as he lined up fourth fastest.

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McLaren's Stoffel Vandoorne certainly appeared a lot happier yesterday, after the team reverted to an older chassis, but the Belgian was stranded for much of the morning session, his mechanics replacing the floor on his MCL33.

Among the low runners was also Daniel Ricciardo, although the Red Bull driver's efforts were still good for a spot among the top five.

Impressions of Hamilton's struggles from the outside were confirmed when the Mercedes driver spun at the chicane at the top of the hill,a mistake that did his ultrasoft tyres no good at all.

His more stable team mate hooked up a good lap to move once again at the top of the timesheet, but again the Finn was quickly surpassed by Vettel with a 1m16.170s lap that edged Bottas by 0.059s.

But soon after, Bottas replicated Hamilton's loose move through the chicane, losing the rear upon entry and spinning in the outside barrier, fortunately lightly. Still, the contact would warrant a thorough check by the Mercedes crew.

With the exception of Verstappen moving ahead of his team mate in P5, the order remained unchanged among the front-runners.

Sainz was best of the rest in seventh, and led Haas' Romain Grsojean, Toro Rosso's Pierre Gasly and Kevin Magnussen.

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Michael Delaney