After complaining about struggling with tyres on Friday, Ferrari bounced back on Saturday and were looking very much on form in the morning's final free practice session at Spa-Francorchamps as Kimi Raikkonen led the way with a best lap time of 1:47.974s.
The Finn was just over two tenths quicker than Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo, while Sebastian Vettel took third place ahead of the Williams of Valtteri Bottas who was fourth fastest.
It was another low-key session for Mercedes. Nico Rosberg had gone to the top early in the session on soft compound tyres, but his time was soon bettered by both Ferraris and by Ricciardo.
Rosberg's team mate Lewis Hamilton spent most the morning working on long-distance runs on medium and used soft tyres. Regardless of what happens in this afternoon's qualifying session, the Briton will start from the back of the grid tomorrow after incurring a large number of engine change penalties.
However, Hamilton was able to put in one late flying lap just before the time ran out on the 60-minute session and claimed fifth place on the timing screens just ahead of the Force India of Nico Hulkenberg, leaving Rosberg pushed down to seventh ahead of Felipe Massa, Sergio Perez and Romain Grosjean.
McLaren's Fernando Alonso finished just outside the top ten having completed just nine laps during the session. Haas' Esteban Gutierrez was 12th ahead of Jenson Button, Kevin Magnussen, Pascal Wehrlein, Daniil Kvyat and Carlos Sainz, with Jolyon Palmer in 18th ahead of Felipe Nasr.
In his first FP3 session, Manor's new driver Esteban Ocon was 20th fastest although he was 2.7s behind Raikkonen's practice-topping time.
After topping Friday's afternoon practice there was less good fortune for local hero Max Verstappen on Saturday, as he he suffered a gearbox issue after completing only two laps and virtually all of the session, putting him on the back foot going into qualifying.
There were also problems for Sauber's Marcus Ericsson, who reported a loss of power and spent most of the session back in the garage before returning at the end of practice to finally set a time, albeit down in 21st place.
A number of drivers including Vettel, Hamilton, Perez and Ricciardo all received warnings for cutting the corner at Eau Rouge and the exit of Radillon.
An incident between Vettel and Renault's Kevin Magussen at Blanchimont will also be looked at by the stewards over the lunchtime break, as will a close encounter at Eau Rouge between Haas' Esteban Gutierrez and Manor's Pascal Wehrlein.
AS IT HAPPENED: Belgian Grand Prix - FP3
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Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Laps |
---|---|---|---|---|
01 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1:47.974 | 11 |
02 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull | 1:48.189 | 18 |
03 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1:48.297 | 12 |
04 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams | 1:48.504 | 17 |
05 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:48.635 | 20 |
06 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India | 1:48.739 | 12 |
07 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:48.742 | 19 |
08 | Felipe Massa | Williams | 1:48.783 | 21 |
09 | Sergio Perez | Force India | 1:48.915 | 12 |
10 | Romain Grosjean | Haas | 1:49.272 | 16 |
11 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren | 1:49.453 | 9 |
12 | Esteban Gutierrez | Haas | 1:49.631 | 16 |
13 | Jenson Button | McLaren | 1:49.665 | 10 |
14 | Kevin Magnussen | Renault | 1:49.716 | 11 |
15 | Pascal Wehrlein | Manor | 1:49.761 | 15 |
16 | Daniil Kvyat | Toro Rosso | 1:50.023 | 9 |
17 | Carlos Sainz | Toro Rosso | 1:50.078 | 9 |
18 | Jolyon Palmer | Renault | 1:50.241 | 11 |
19 | Felipe Nasr | Sauber | 1:50.420 | 13 |
20 | Esteban Ocon | Manor | 1:50.693 | 18 |
21 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber | 1:51.319 | 5 |
22 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 2 |