2024 F1 Round 12, British GP FP3: Russell fastest in the rain with 1m37.529s as Mercedes take a one-two and Britons fill the top three

Third free practice for Round 12 of the 2024 Formula 1 season, the British Grand Prix, concluded at a rain-soaked Silverstone on the evening of 6 July China time (UTC+8). Mercedes’ George Russell led with a 1m37.529s lap, with team-mate Lewis Hamilton just 0.035s behind to complete a Mercedes one-two. McLaren’s Lando Norris was third, making it an all-British top three. Yuki Tsunoda finished practice in 14th.

Heavy rain overnight had washed the circuit clean and left the surface completely “green”. The final practice session of the weekend began in cold, wet conditions, with an air temperature of 11°C and a track temperature of 16°C. All 20 cars headed out on intermediate tyres, but nobody could make use of the full 60 minutes. Just eight minutes in, Alpine’s Gasly locked his rear wheels on the approach to Turn 16, slid off and became stuck in the gravel. The red flags interrupted running for about six minutes. From the television pictures, his tyres appeared not to have reached their operating temperature at all.

Sauber’s Bottas also slid at Turn 4 with 40 minutes remaining. Fortunately, he went into a paved run-off area, complaining over the radio that he had “no grip at all”. Championship leader Verstappen performed a 180-degree spin on his way towards Turn 6, but was fortunate to remain on the track.

Norris, who had topped both practice sessions on Friday, kept Ferrari’s Sainz behind him in the wet to finish third. Only 0.185s separated the three British drivers at the front, but there was a gap of more than 0.4s back to fourth-placed Sainz. The slippery surface spread the field out to a 4.2s gap between the fastest and slowest recorded times, far more than in the dry. Sainz, Verstappen, Leclerc, Piastri, Alonso, Perez and Hulkenberg filled fourth to 10th.

Qualifying was scheduled for 22:00 China time (UTC+8) that evening.