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Mercedes drivers Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton, in that order, claimed the top two spots at the end of free practice three for the Qatar Grand Prix. The Finn picked up where he had left off in second practice while the Brit recovered from his Friday pace woes.
Red Bull F1's title contender Max Verstappen was third-fastest in the final practice session before qualifying gets underway at the Losail International circuit.
Bottas’ quickest lap was clocked at 1 minute 22.310 seconds, 0.078 seconds quicker than Lewis Hamilton and 0.310 up on Verstappen.
Alpha Tauri driver Pierre Gasly was fourth-fastest, down from his Friday classification of second. However, the Frenchman has maintained consistent form in the top five in all sessions so far. The former Red Bull F1 driver was followed by Sergio Perez, who was fifth-fastest in the session.
Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz set the sixth-best time and was followed by Alpine F1 drivers Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon in seventh and eighth respectively. Sainz's teammate Charles Leclerc was ninth fastest and was followed by Alpha Tauri rookie Yuki Tsunoda in 10th.
While Bottas and Lewis Hamilton had comfortable starts to the free practice session, Red Bull F1 seemed plagued by rear wing issues, particularly on Verstappen’s car. Most of the drivers were seen coming out late in the session, in an attempt to run their cars when the temperatures dropped.
Mercedes could sacrifice Valtteri Bottas in qualifying to provide Lewis Hamilton with tow
Due to the unique nature of the Losail circuit, the proposition of an aerodynamic "tow" factors into qualifying, where running behind another car provides a speed boost to the trailing car. This is due to the trailing car not being subject to as much drag as the leading car. Using this arrangement, teams could be seen sacrificing one driver to benefit the other in the session.
Although the smooth flat track in Qatar suits Bottas, it wont be a surprise if Mercedes sacrifice the Finn's prospects in order to help Lewis Hamilton with a tow. While Mercedes are quick in the first and third sectors of the circuit, which comprises of straights, they are losing significant amounts of time to Red Bull F1 in the second sector, which is made up of faster corners.
The full results of the FP3 ahead of the Qatar Grand Prix are as follows:
