Mercedes took to the Silverstone circuit like a duck to water during a third and final practice session for the Formula 1 British Grand Prix interrupted by rain with George Russell leading Lewis Hamilton in a one-two for the Brackley-based team.
Russell set the benchmark at 1:37.529s on intermediate tyres, just 0.035s ahead of Hamilton’s best effort.
The final practice session took place under Silverstone’s typical overcast skies, not too long after significant morning rain saw the FIA Formula 3 Sprint postponed to Saturday evening.
Still, the rain had ceased in the build-up to FP3 and conditions had progressed from unraceable for F3 to manageable for Formula 1.
Conditions around the rest of the 3.66-mile circuit varied and the risk of another bout of rain loomed large.
It’s needless to say the track was declared wet from the outset by race control with DRS disabled.
After dry conditions on Friday, Lando Norris and McLaren emerged as the early weekend pacesetters, but the mixed conditions presented to the 20-strong Formula 1 field on Saturday morning set up a potential shuffle of the competitive order.
Furthermore, with no guarantees qualifying would be fully dry the drivers needed to get a decent gauge of the track during the final practice of the British GP weekend.
As proceedings got underway the first competitors tentatively took to the Silverstone circuit on intermediate tyres with plenty of spray still being kicked back due to the morning rain showers.
A Max Verstappen pirouette on his first lap proved just how difficult it was to navigate Silverstone’s wet twists and turns and Alpine’s Pierre Gasly getting stuck in the gravel at Turn 16 cemented that notion, along with bringing out the Red Flag after just eight hours of running.
As the field returned to the pits, Daniel Ricciardo was spotted weaving his way past team garages en route to the RB pit box, a decision that the race stewards noted, undoubtedly concerned about the safety implications had the Australian slipped up during his manoeuvring.
The stewards shortly decided to investigate Ricciardo’s antics once FP3 concluded with a decision pending.
A handful of minutes after Gasly’s trip to the gravel and the Alpine had been removed, allowing the session to resume with roughly three-quarters of an hour left on the clock.
Conditions were still tricky however and Valtteri Bottas had a slow spin at Village (Turn 4) in his Sauber.
Moments later, Charles Leclerc held a quick step of oversteer through Club (Turn 18), although his Ferrari was equally cumbersome in the dry on Friday so it was no bother for the Monegasque driver.
As minutes ticked by, drivers circulated and the mistakes were wrung out and in turn the lap times dropped.
That was until the threat of rain was realised with just under 20 minutes left in the session, stifling any progress drivers could make in terms of time and prompting the majority to pit.
A handful of runners continued, the Mercedes duo chief among them and their perseverance through the mixed conditions granted them a one-two finish by the time the clock struck zero.
Friday’s pacesetter Norris was best of the rest behind Russell and Hamilton, lapping just 0.185s off of the ultimate pace in the wet Silverstone conditions.
Meanwhile, Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and Verstappen completed the top five, albeit six and eight-tenths off of the top spot respectively.
Nine-tenths back from first was Leclerc, who’s standing in the wet FP3 (6th) was hardly better than that in the dry on Friday.
Meanwhile, Oscar Piastri, Fernando Alonso, Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg completed the top-10.
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