Hamilton fastest in final 70th Anniversary GP practice

Mercedes will unsurprisingly head into qualifying on Saturday afternoon as the grand favourite for pole after Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas dominated the final practice session.

Hamilton edged his teammate by 0.163s but the Briton's margin over third-placed man Lando Norris was over half a second.

Racing Point's Nico Hulkenberg continued to power ahead of his teammate Lance Stroll, the pair setting the fourth and fifth fastest times, just ahead of Ferrari's Charles Leclerc.

• 70th Anniversary Grand Prix Free Practice 3 - Results

Saturday's final dress rehearsal before qualifying kicked off against a backdrop of legal proceedings as the Racing Point brake duct saga drags on.

The resumption of the track action was this a welcome distraction amid the legal ramblings and war of words between Racing point and its rivals.

Sebastian Vettel was the first car to head out, the German driver powered by a new power unit after suffering an engine failure in FP2, a penalty-free change also undertaken on Leclerc's SF1000.

McLaren's duo of Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz set the first significant times, but Leclerc overhauled both until the Monegasque was himself beaten by Lance Stroll and then AlphaTauri's Pierre Gasly.

But when the Mercedes freight train came rolling out, it immediately made minced meat of the early front-runners, with Bottas leading Hamilton and both drivers running on the soft tyre.

But Norris, shod on the medium compound, put in a flyer that set the session's benchmark at 1m27.202s

But the Briton's joy of topping the times was short lived as Bottas crushed it with a 1m26.784s that put Mercedes in command once again. Still on the softs, Hamilton upped the pace to lower the morning's best to 1m26.261s.

Meanwhile, the team radio beep machine was over-revving thanks to Verstappen who vented his ire at Stroll for running at a snail's pace on the racing line.

The Canadian had nevertheless inserted himself P5, but that wasn't as good as the effort of teammate Nico Hulkenberg who clocked in 4th behind Hamilton, Bottas and Norris.

The order remained unchanged among the top five while Leclerc, Verstappen, Alex Albon, Esteban Ocon and Sainz closed off the top ten.

Vettel and Ricciardo both concluded the morning in the second half of the field, respectively P13 and P14 while Alfa's Kimi Raikkonen and Haas' Kevin Magnussen book-ended the pack.

There doesn't seem to be much doubt about the team that will power ahead in qualifying this afternoon, the only question remaining about the identity of the Mercedes charger that will take top spoils.

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