#F1 #BritishGP: @CharlesLeclerc tops chaotic FP3 ahead of @OscarPiastri by 0.068s.

Leclerc British GP FP3 – Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc topped a crazy FP3 at the British GP which ended under a red flag due to Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto’s crash as McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen completed the top three.

Leclerc posted the session-topping benchmark on the C4 red side-walled softer tyres posting a 1:25.498 and was a very slim 0.068 seconds clear of Piastri whilst Verstappen was a further 0.087 seconds off the Monegasque driver in third.

Alpine duo Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto were the first to hit the track and lead the field out and were on a set of C4 red-marked softer tyres.

The two Aston Martin’s of Lance Stroll and Fernando then followed on a set of the C3 yellow-branded mediums.

Gasly was the first to register the initial benchmark of a 1:28.552 as his team-mate Colapinto pipped him by 0.034 seconds to go to P1 with a 1:28.518 as the session reached five minutes.

Both Stroll and Alonso came back in to switch their tyres to the C2 harder rubber.

Both Stroll and Alonso returned to their respective garages as home favourite Sir Lewis Hamilton emerged in his SF-25 entry on the softs.

Gasly then returned to the head of the times with two purples to hit a 1:28.262, which was then once again beaten by team-mate Colapinto’s 1:28.094 effort as the session reached the tenth minute mark.

Hamilton with three purples then demoted Colapinto with his 1:27.351 on the softer compounds to be 0.743 seconds quicker than the Argentine.

Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg with three personal bests slotted into fourth on a 1:28.938 and was 1.587 adrift of Hamilton’s effort.

Both Alpines returned to the pits with the majority yet to emerge to begin their FP3 running as the opening quarter of proceedings ended.

Stroll moved into second with his medium tyres to be 1.071 seconds adrift of Hamilton’s benchmark as most of the pack came out with sets of the C4 softs.

Hamilton also improved to a 1:26.529 as Norris slotted into P2 and was 0.512 seconds off his fellow British-compatriot 20 minutes into the session.

Leclerc then put his Ferrari at the top of the pole with a 1:26.494 as Verstappen moved into second place in the order and a very narrow 0.005 seconds off the Monegasque driver.

Mercedes’ George Russell with three personal bests split Hamilton and Norris to go fourth in the classification as Andrea Kimi Antonelli in the order Silver Arrow jumped to seventh on his hot lap.

Replays showed Stroll suffer a scary moment through Luffield and managed to catch his AMR25 racer from spinning.

Piastri with three personal bests on his soft tyre flyer moved into sixth place to be 0.785 seconds off Leclerc’s benchmark who improved with a solid 1:25.922 at the top.

Verstappen was next with three personal bests to go 0.244 seconds adrift of the Ferrari driver.

Antonelli with three personal bests then jumped to P3 with a 1:26.460 but then was demoted down a place by team-mate Russell’s 1:26.318 effort.

Hamilton despite a purple sector one, made an error in sector three to split Russell and Antonelli in fourth at the session’s halfway point.

Verstappen was next with a purple sector one and a personal best sector two but the reigning world champion encountered traffic courtesy of former team-mate Gasly and wounded up 0.223 seconds off Leclerc’s benchmark effort.

Most of the field were back into the pits adjusting their setups with 25 minutes left on the clock.

Leclerc with 23 minutes remaining suffered a wild moment on his flying tour out of Luffield and abandoned his lap whilst Russell locked up into the Loop but continued to push.

Russell with two personal bests moved to P2 to go 0.203 seconds adrift of Leclerc’s benchmark whilst Antonelli improved to be half-a-second off Leclerc in fifth.

Norris was next with a personal best opening sector and two purples to shoot to P1 with a 1:25.606 to go fastest by 0.316 over Leclerc with 17 minutes remaining.

Piastri then pipped team-mate Norris with a 1:25.566 to be quicker by 0.040 seconds.

Verstappen followed with a purple sector one and lost a bit of time in sector two to split the McLaren’s to go second and 0.019 seconds off Piastri as his Red Bull team-mate Yuki Tsunoda moved to fifth with three personal bests.

Leclerc was next with two personal bests and a purple middle sector to go quickest with a 1:25.498 and was 0.068 seconds clear of Piastri.

Hamilton was next on his flyer, but a red flag was waved with nine minutes left on the clock due to an end-plate piece on the track at Stowe.

After the debris that came off Haas’s Oliver Bearman’s VF-25 was cleared with three minutes left on the clock, the entire field came out for one last flying lap on the C4 red side-walled softer rubber for one final qualifying simulation effort.

A red flag was brought out with one minute left as Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto suffered a shunt after going over the bump, losing the rear and clipping the kerb through Becketts and suffering a spin into the gravel trap and damaged his front-left suspension in the process.

Replays also showed Bearman locking up on pit lane entry with cold brakes, and spinning into the barriers, knocking off his front wing and damaging his nose.

The race stewards are currently investigating Bearman’s incident for speeding under a red flag.

The ending under the red flag meant the order remained stable as Leclerc ended FP3 quickest ahead of Piastri and Verstappen.

Norris was fourth and in-front of Tsunoda who took fifth as the Bearman wounded up sixth.

Williams’ Alexander Albon followed in seventh and ahead of Russell who ended final practice in eighth whilst RB duo Hadjar and Lawson rounded out the top ten.

You can see the full Formula 1 Qatar Airways British Grand Prix 2025 Free Practice 3 Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results/2025/races/1277/great-britain/practice/3

2025 F1 World Championship Standings