Vettel edges Raikkonen
Montreal, June 10: World championship leader Sebastian Vettel topped the times ahead of his Ferrari team-mate Kimi Raikkonen in Saturday morning’s third and final free practice session ahead of Sunday’s Canadian Grand Prix.
The four-time champion German dominated the hour-long session and clocked his best time in one minute and 12.572 seconds with 22 minutes remaining.
That lap lifted him 0.292 seconds clear of the Finn who was, in turn, less than a tenth ahead of Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes and Dutch teenager Max Verstappen, who was fourth in the leading Red Bull.
Hamilton’s Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas was fifth quickest ahead of German Nico Hulkenberg of Renault, Brazilian Felipe Massa of Williams and Australian Daniel Ricciardo, who was down in eighth in the second Red Bull.
On a blue-skied day at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Ferrari’s performance encouraged belief that they could claim their first consecutive pole positions since 2012 when qualifying takes place later on Montreal: Formula One will not be ‘dumbed down’ to create artificial excitement or lose its identity, the sport’s new Director of Motorsports Ross Brawn said on Friday.
But, he added, it will seek to find ways of making the racing more competitive overall so that it is not dominated by two well-funded teams that are ahead of the rest.
“We don’t want to dumb Formula One down,” said Brawn. “It still has to be aspirational for the teams.” Saturday.
It was the fifth time in six Grands Prix that Ferrari have topped the times in third practice, but Mercedes much-improved showing following their desultory form at the Monaco Grand Prix suggested they could mount a serious challenge in the grid session.
The impressive improved Frenchman Esteban Ocon of Force India was ninth ahead of Spaniard Carlos Sainz of Toro Rosso.